Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion. (Photo by Judy Flores Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The director of the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7 (Central Visayas) is not recommending Negros Oriental to be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) amid the continuing surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the province.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, incident commander of the province's Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in a virtual press briefing Tuesday afternoon said DOH-7 regional director Dr. Jaime Bernadas told her the current situation in Negros Oriental does not yet warrant an ECQ.
"We have not yet reached our peak yet, and the cases will still rise in the coming days," she said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.
The announcement of Estacion came after two groups of medical doctors and other quarters called for ECQ declaration or lockdown to curb the ongoing climb of positive Covid-19 cases in the province.
Estacion said instead of an ECQ implementation, other steps are now being taken in answer to the spike.
DOH-7 will be sending Universal Transport Medium (UTM) kits to the province soon to bolster the current testing for possible Covid-19 cases as well as deploy volunteer health workers here, she said.
Also, the provincial IATF is finalizing a new executive order of Gov. Roel Degamo containing guidelines and restrictions to address the surge of Covid cases in the province.
Estacion on Tuesday reported 240 new cases covering May 20-22 while 124 recoveries were also recorded during the period based on results released by the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory.
The total caseload of Negros Oriental as of May 25 is 3,673, broken down into 2,760 recoveries, 823 active positive infections, and 90 mortalities. (PNA)
