By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The provincial government of Negros Occidental has proposed a two-week moratorium for inbound travelers to local government units (LGUs) whose quarantine facilities are fully occupied.

Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson explained the proposed moratorium was in response to the suggestion made by Dr. Zeaphard Caelian, head of the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT).

Caelian had reported earlier that some of the quarantine facilities in the province are now heavily congested. He said the travel suspension will give the authorized agencies more time to strategize in the containment of increasing local transmission of COVID-19.

“While there are LGUs with triple-digit active cases of COVID-19, there are also towns and cities with low numbers of cases,” Lacson said, adding LGUs which have quarantine facilities that remain open for occupancy will continue to accept inbound travelers.

Lacson, meanwhile, said getting the approval of the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for another travel moratorium will be difficult since the previous request was already extended two weeks ago.

“The travel moratorium is one way of controlling the number of people coming in,” the governor pointed out.

Based on records released by Caelian, the EB Magalona Healing Center is now overloaded. The facility is only supposed to hold 107 patients, however, as of May 6, 179 patients occupied the quarantine facility.

The Mambukal Mountain Resort in the town of Murcia is also nearing capacity with 62 of the 88 available beds now occupied./DGB, WDJ