STILL NO COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS. The provincial IATF-EID of Negros Oriental has agreed to extend the province's ban on regular commercial flights and sea travel to and from the province. Adrian Sedillo, executive director of the local body, in an interview on Thursday (Sept. 3, 2020) said only sweeper flights and sea travel specifically for locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos will be allowed for now. (File photo by Judy Flores Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The province of Negros Oriental has extended its ban on regular commercial flights and sea travel for the month of September even as some areas in the country have already eased their quarantine restrictions.
This, as the province is still under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) following President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent announcement on the status of different areas in the country in relation to the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Adrian Sedillo, executive director of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in an interview on Thursday said only sweeper flights and sea travel specifically for locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) will be allowed for now.
Authorized persons outside of residence (APOR) are also allowed to travel in and out of the province provided they comply with health protocols and requirements, he added.
It was agreed during the latest meeting of the IATF that the month of September is allocated only for these specific individuals, he said.
This came amid public inquiry as to when regular commercial flights to and from Dumaguete shall resume considering that Negros Oriental is now under MGCQ.
Sedillo cited two reasons for this -- the absence of a vaccine against Covid-19 and the pending operation of the province’s molecular laboratory to conduct reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR testing.
The province is still awaiting the donation of RT-PCR testing machine by the Energy Development Corporation and the accreditation of the molecular laboratory by the Department of Health, he said.
The EDC is scheduled to turn over the RT-PCR machine on Sept. 18, he added.
“The timeline is for the last week of September but it can change depending on how fast we can get the accreditation,” Sedillo said. (PNA)
