The COVID-19 “epidemic wave” that hit Negros Occidental starting mid-April is now under control, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Wednesday, April 19.
Diaz said the COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental that soared above 2,000 from April 15 to May 14 are now going down.
“Our testing and contact tracing was effective, we were able to contain the spread,” he said.
The COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental dropped to 1,330 Wednesday from a high of 2,631 on May 6.
The number of daily COVID-19 cases have also dropped from triple-digit figures to double digits, he said.
The highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a day were 297 on April 14 and on Wednesday there were only 36, Diaz said.
Of the 36 new cases, Manapla had 14, Victorias City – 5, Silay City – 4, Binalbagan, Himamaylan City, and Kabankalan City – 2 each, and Calatrava, Cauayan, EB Magalona, Pontevedra, Toboso, Bago and Sagay City – 1 each.
There were also 148 who recovered from COVID-19 on Wednesday with Sipalay City and Talisay City having 30 each, Silay City -25, Victorias City -18, Kabankalan and San Carlos cities – 7 each;
Binalbagan and Sagay City – 5 each, Manapla and Escalante City – 4 each, Toboso – 3, San Enrique, Bago City and Himamaylan City – 2 each, and Candoni, Valladolid, Cadiz City and La Carlota City – 1 each.
The Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan also approved the referral laboratory agreement between the province and the Valladolid molecular laboratory on Tuesday, he said.
This means COVID-19 testing will be divided so swab samples from the south will be brought to the Valladolid laboratory and those from the north to the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital laboratory in Silay City, Diaz said.
That will improve the turnaround time because the earlier the detection the better to prevent the further spread of the virus, Diaz said.*