08/23/2020

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who chairs the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force, and Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the Quarantine Centers Action Team, joined virtual meeting on “O-Plan: One-Time Big-Time Mass Testing” with Negros Occidental officials today, aftermotoday [August 23].

Joining the online meeting are Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Board Member Ryan Gamboa, Provincial Consultant Alfredo Benitez, Talisay City Mayor Neil Lizares, Silay City Mayor Mark Golez, Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo, Murcia Mayor Gerry Rojas, and DOH-6 regional director Dr. Marlyn Convocar, a press rel;ease from the Bacolod Public Information Office said..

The officials discussed the uniform template of the Executive Orders to be issued by all local chief executives of the five pilot Local Government Units as part of the “O-Plan: One-Time Big-Time Mass Testing” on August 28 to 31.

A Special Task Force will be created to facilitate the mass testing of 10,000 symptomatic patients and their close contacts in the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, and Bago, and the municipality of Murcia for four days this weekend.

RT-PCR tests are scheduled on August 28-29 in Bacolod, with estimated 5,000 patients. The remaining 5,000 patients from the cities of Silay, Talisay, and Bago, and the town of Murcia will have their swab tests on August 30-31.

Leonardia agreed to endorse around 5,000 COVID suspects through the City Health Office (CHO) to undergo swab tests.

Benitez said the “one-time big-time mass testing” is designed to identify the COVID carriers who are not tested because of slow or not proactive testing strategy.

The mass testing was initiated by the provincial government.

All 5 molecular bio-laboratories in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental will be used to speed up the processing of these 10,000 swab specimens so the results can be released in 24 to 48 hours.*