DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) – The province of Negros Oriental has logged eight new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), four of them coming from Canlaon City, where health authorities are investigating possible local transmission of the virus.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, the health committee chair of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said at a press briefing Saturday afternoon the new cases also included one in Jimalalud town and three in Bais City.
The new cases were a 27-year-old-female locally stranded individual (LSI) from Jimalalud, who arrived from Cebu City; a 13-year-old-male from Bais City, direct contact and son of COVID-19 patients; a 28-year-old-female overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Bais City, who was repatriated from Jordan; a 24-year-old-female OFW from Bais City, who returned from the United Arab Emirates; a 26-year-old-female frontliner from Canlaon City; a 37-year-old-female frontliner assigned at an LSI campsite; an 18-year-old-female from Canlaon City, and niece of patient NegOr CoV-149; and a 15-year-old-female from Canlaon City, niece of a COVID-19 patient.
As of Saturday, the total of COVID-19 infections in Negros Oriental has reached 163, with 137 recoveries and 22 active cases and four deaths, Estacion said.
The province received on Friday and Saturday a total of 156 results, which included 147 negatives with two recoveries, the eight new positive cases, and a repeat-swab positive, she said.
Meanwhile, contact tracing teams will be sent to Canlaon City on Monday, Sept. 21, to investigate a possible local transmission of the coronavirus, she said.
This was because of the infection of the nieces of NegOr CoV-149, who all lived in the same household, as well as the front-liners who were exposed to the said patient and who are now also positive, she added.