Popular tourist spot in Negros Oriental placed under lockdown

The Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park. (Raffy Cabristante/Inquirer Visayas)

DUMAGUETE CITY –– A well-known tourist attraction in Negros Oriental was placed under lockdown after a health worker, who visited the place, tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

All personnel of Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Sibulan town have undergone swab tests and were quarantined, said Nestor Canda, head of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO).

The lockdown, he added, would last for 15 days or until such time the employees yield negative results.

The health worker, a 32-year-old female who lives in Sibulan, is an employee of the Inapoy Community Primary Hospital (ICPH) in Mabinay town, located between the borders of Negros Oriental and Occidental. The hospital has been placed under lockdown since the last week of August.

Dr. Liland Estacion, assistant provincial health officer, earlier said the health worker is a close contact of the hospital’s chief nurse from Negros Occidental, who had died and tested positive for COVID-19, on August 25.

She said the said health worker went to the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park with her boyfriend on August 30 amid the widespread brownout that occurred in some parts of the province on that day.

Her positive result was publicly announced in a press briefing two days later, on September 1.

The local government of Mabinay has placed at least 61 houses in the village of Inapoy on lockdown, days after another health worker from ICPH also tested positive for COVID-19.

Estacion said Negros Oriental has eight new COVID-19 patients on Sunday, six of whom involve locally stranded individuals (LSIs) repatriated from Metro Manila.

Of the newly infected LSIs, two were from Bais City, two from Sibulan, and two from Pamplona.

This is the first time Pamplona town recorded COVID-19 cases after having been free of the virus for nine months. Because of this, only two towns in Negros Oriental remain with zero active cases since the pandemic began: Valencia and San Jose.

As of September 6, Negros Oriental has 145 COVID-19 cases with 22 active, 119 recoveries, and four deaths.

LZB