By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) of Negros Occidental revealed yesterday that some towns and cities in the province are already reporting zero coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, both active and new cases.

Some of the local government units (LGUs) have already been free of COVID-19 for almost a week now, PIMT said.

PIMT records also showed that since Monday, February 28, until Wednesday, March 2, majority of the LGUs in the province have only zero to 10 COVID-19 cases left.

As of Wednesday, based on PIMT’s COVID-19 update, among the LGUs that still have 10 to 30 cases are Bago City, E.B. Magalona, Himamaylan City, La Castellana, San Carlos City, Silay City, and Talisay City.

Provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, meanwhile said active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental are now down to 166 only.

“So far we are on the right track and I hope amu na gid ni ang end sang aton penitensya,” he said.

Diaz is hoping that by March 16 once the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) issues its new COVID-19 alert levels, Negros Occidental will be downgraded to Alert Level 1 or the “new normal” status.

In total since March of 2020, total number of COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental is at 41,197 with 39,082 recoveries and 1,948 deaths./DGB, WDJ