DUMAGUETE CITY—The number of COVID-19 cases in Negros Oriental province has tripled in just 11 days.
From only 31 last Oct. 19, the number rose to 100 on Friday (Oct. 30).
Dr. Liland Estacion, provincial Inter-Agency Task Force ground commander, said the province recorded 38 new cases on Friday.
Most are cases of local transmission. The infected included a councilor from the town of Sta. Catalina, three siblings aged one to three years old and government employees.
Negros Oriental currently has the highest number of infections in Central Visayas, according to an Oct. 29 report of the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH).
Bayawan City in southern Negros Oriental logged the highest number of new cases with 21, involving mostly local government employees and contact tracers who got infected after exposure to COVID-19 patients.
Most of Bayawan’s new cases were found after testing last weekend, according to Estacion.
The mass testing, sponsored by congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr., was also conducted in Dumaguete City and the towns of Zamboanguita and Valencia.
Eight health workers in a public hospital in Guihulngan City were among those recently infected. There were also three new cases of local transmission in the towns of Tayasan and La Libertad.
Two government employees and a councilor were the three newly infected persons in Sta. Catalina. Two stranded persons returning to Bais City also tested positive for SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Bayawan has the highest number of cases with 29, followed by Guihulngan City with 19, Zamboanguita with 15, and Dumaguete City with 11.
Other cities and towns with COVID-19 cases in the province were Tayasan, La Libertad, Santa Catalina, Bais City, Bacong, Dauin, Sibulan, and Ayungon.
Negros Oriental currently has 308 COVID-19 cases with 202 recoveries and six fatalities.