By Dolly Yasa and Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Lacson said that the provincial government did not stop testing, which is being blamed for the “steady” increase in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-l9 in the province.
“We still have the numbers because we didn’t stop testing those identified through contract tracing and those arriving in all our ports and airports,” Lacson.
The province of Negros Occidental currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas.
Data from the Department of Health Region-6 as of Nov 16, 2020 showed that Negros Occidental has 5,224 total confirmed positive cases.
Bacolod City has 5,125 cases, followed by Iloilo City with 4,236; Iloilo province with 2,451; Capiz with 962; Aklan, 137; Guimaras, 126; and Antique, 51.
Negros Occidental also registered an average of 20 to 30 new positive cases daily in the past weeks.
Compared to Iloilo province with a difference of half a million in population, Negros Occidental has more active and confirmed cases.
Negros Occidental also has the highest number of active cases with 1,281 while Iloilo province has 456.
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office (PRO-6) in Iloilo City sent 52 police officers to Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) to augment its contact tracing team.
In a regular virtual press conference yesterday, Colonel Romy Palgue, Nocppo director, said the augmentation personnel were deployed to areas in the province with high COVID-19 cases.
“Malaking tulong ito to fast track our contact tracing efforts in the province,” he added.
Palgue said even those police officers who were previously assigned in border control check-up points were also utilized to help in the contact tracing.
At least 135 Nocppo personnel supported the contact tracing efforts of the provincial government in the fight against the pandemic starting September.
The team is composed of an investigator, intelligence officer, operations officer, and police community relations officer.
