163 test positive for COVID-19 in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental

BACOLOD CITY –– The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in San Carlos City hit 163 on Tuesday, with many coming from Barangay Guadalupe, where choir members had tested positive for the virus.

There will, however, be no lockdown in the city, said San Carlos Mayor Renato Gustilo.

The mayor attributed the surge in COVID-19 cases in San Carlos to the new national government policy that does not allow a swab test on arriving passengers.

He also cited the illegal entry of undocumented locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from Cebu into San Carlos via Negros Oriental.

A checkpoint at the border of San Carlos and Negros Oriental also operates during daytime only, Gustilo said.

“They cannot risk the lives of persons assigned at the checkpoint at night with recent rebel activity in the north,” he said.

“So the undocumented LSIs slip in at night through the highway, while others enter the city by sea or through the mountainous areas,” he added.

Gustilo said San Carlos residents had been alerted to report new arrivals from Cebu so they could be picked up and swabbed.

At least 16 members of the Barangay Guadalupe Catholic Church in San Carlos City, who had gone to Manapla to sing at the anniversary of a priest, earlier tested positive for COVID-19.

On Tuesday, 17 more relatives of the choir members in Guadalupe also tested positive.

LZB