BACOLOD CITY –– For the second time, Negros Occidental Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko tested positive for COVID-19.
An emergency room nurse and a molecular laboratory staff at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City also tested positive for COVID-19, bringing to 46 the number of Capitol employees with the virus.
Ko, who contracted the virus in the first week of April, said he lost his sense of smell on Saturday night and developed a hoarse voice, so he had himself tested.
His positive test results came out on Monday.
Ko will be quarantined again at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental are, nonetheless, going down.
As of Monday, Negros Occidental had 1,589 COVID-19 active cases.
The Capitol will start the mass vaccination of its employees on Thursday, May 20, Diaz said.
To be vaccinated this week are employees who are senior citizens and those with comorbidities. The rest will be vaccinated next week.