By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros Occidental Provincial Health Office (PHO) confirmed yesterday morning that the province remains free from the Omicron variant of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but its chief has expressed concern over the sudden surge in new cases in the past few days.

According to PHO head Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, the surge in new COVID-19 cases is becoming ‘alarming.

Data from January 9 showed that over 80 percent of the new cases came from locally stranded individuals (LSIs) who recently arrived in the province, while 11 percent are local cases.

Previously, Negros Occidental imposed rapid antigen testing on all new arrivals at the Bacolod-Silay Airport and at the Bredco Port in Bacolod City originating from areas under Alert Level 3.

At least 220 travelers were found reactive during the rapid antigen testing, while 120 would later test positive for COVID-19 after undergoing RT-PCR confirmatory tests.

A majority of the travelers were also noted to be asymptomatic.

Tumimbang said it is possible that a lot of travelers whom they suspect to be “reactive” could have already entered the province last December.

“Yes [this is alarming], because coming from eight [cases] nag 100+ ta eh, in just a matter of days?” Tumimbang pointed out.

He said with the increase in new cases, the PHO is now checking if the hospitals in the province are also noticing an increase in severe cases, although so far there hasn’t been any reports of such and there are also no reported new fatalities over the past few days.

“We have an increase, pero ang point dira is how many of these cases ang nag-severe kag nagkadto sa ospital ta, because that is one area of concern nga tan-awon ta if our [vaccination program] is doing fine, pero so far I think it’s doing fine,” Tumimbang explained./DGB, WDJ