2 returning Negrense OFWs test positive for COVID-19

BACOLOD CITY –– Two repatriated Negrense overseas workers tested positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the two new COVID-19 patients, who arrived in Bacolod City on a 2Go Malasakit voyage on April 28, were asymptomatic and had been tagged as the region’s patients No. 8 and No. 9.

The two were isolated in a quarantine facility in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental’s capital.

The two patients tested negative during their first swab tests on May 1, but their second swab tests on May 1 turned positive of the virus. The results were released by the Department of Health on Wednesday.

Lacson said Patient No. 8 is a 35-year-old male from Barangay Poblacion, Valladolid town, who arrived in Manila from Miami on March 22.

Patient No. 9, on the other hand, is a 27-year-old male from Barangay Binubuhan, Bago City, who traveled from Miami and New York, and arrived in Manila on March 20.

Meanwhile, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who returned to the province from Cebu had recovered and was discharged from the Negros Occidental Healing Center in EB Magalona town.

Also released were 24 Negrense OFWs who completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine at Go Hotel in Bacolod City. They all tested negative for COVID-19.