This Week in Bacolod (March 14 to 20, 2021)

The City of Bacolod no longer requires overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) to undergo the additional seven-day home quarantine. However, this does not apply to OFWs and ROFs who came from South Africa. According to Councilor Israel Salanga, head of the Action Team on Returning OFWs, they would still need to complete a 14-day quarantine after arriving in the country [2].

Under national health protocols, OFWs and ROFs are quarantined upon arrival in Metro Manila and are required to undergo a swab test on the fifth day. If they get a negative result on the sixth day, they will be scheduled to board a sweeper flight back to their respective cities. Upon arrival in Bacolod, those who came from South Africa must still undergo what is left of their 14-day self-quarantine at home.

Salanga also added that non-essential travelers who come to Bacolod for reasons like leisure or vacation, visits to friends and families, or attendance to wedding celebrations and christenings are now allowed. They are required to submit an itinerary; register for the city’s COVID-19 tracing system, BaCTrac; and sign an online health declaration form. They must also present results of their swab test in Bacolod.

Medical frontliners from Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) and Riverside Medical Center have received COVID-19 vaccines last March 6. These two hospitals are identified as Level-3 COVID-19 facilities in the city, so their medical workers are prioritized for vaccination, according to Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of the Emergency Operations (EOC) Task Force. In terms of the vaccine's brand, Sinovac vaccines were given to the employees of both hospitals. A total of 6,300 vaccines were distributed to the medical frontliners [3].

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson requested for 5,000 to 6,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez from the first two batches that arrived in the Philippines. These vaccines are intended to be given to the province’s medical frontliners from hospitals and medical facilities run by the provincial government. The governor hopes to start the vaccine program in the province by prioritizing the medical frontliners [4].

Go to Yoorekka for more updates on COVID-19 swabs, travel news, and more in Bacolod and Negros Occidental.