Negros Oriental shuts down all airports, sea ports, land borders
DUMAGUETE CITY—Authorities in Negros Oriental shut down the province’s airports, sea ports and land borders while awaiting a national government decision on their request to put through returning residents to tough health checks.
All mayors of the province in a June 5 meeting agreed with the decision of the provincial Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to cut off all access to the province while the national IATF has yet to decide on the request.
Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, which both have domestic flights to and from here, were supposed to resume flights in June.
The airlines, however, were later forced to cancel the flights following the local IATF decision.
Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo earlier said that relaxing restrictions contributed to the sudden spike of the COVID-19 cases in the province which had 18 new infections as of June 4.
A directive by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) required returning residents to secure medical certificate from their places of origin and travel authority from the Joint Task Force COVID Shield, one of dozens of new bodies created in a myriad of measures that the government took against coronavirus.
If the national IATF approved Negros Oriental’s request, returning residents would be required to secure certificate of acceptance from officials of their hometowns and test results showing they’re negative for coronavirus.
Degamo, at a press conference, said the province has had no COVID-19 case for the past two months but when stranded individuals returned, “all of a sudden we have 18” cases.
All of the 18 new infections, two of which were from Cebu, involved mostly stranded individuals and one overseas Filipino worker who returned to Negros Oriental last week.
Thirteen of the patients, including the two Cebuanos, were fishermen who were stranded aboard vessel Phillip D.R., whose captain earlier died due of COVID-19 while still in coronavirus hot spot Manila.
Before the stranded residents arrived in the province last May 17, they were reported to have come from a fishing expedition in Palawan province.
Four other patients were stranded individuals, including an 11-year-old girl from the town of Sibulan who came home with her mom and three siblings from the town of Barili, Cebu province.
The latest case involved a 39-year-old woman from Dumaguete City but authorities weren’t sure if she got infected through local transmission. She was neither an OFW nor a stranded individual.
Dr. Liland Estacion, assistant provincial health officer, said all of the people who had been newly infected didn’t show symptoms.
Edited by TSB
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