Twelve (12) Local Government Units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental will be joining the three-day Expanded Contact Tracing and Early Detection Measures slated October 9-11, 2021.

This activity will be participated in by the Cities of Silay, Talisay, La Carlota, Himamaylan and Kabankalan, and the Municipalities of Toboso, Salvador Benedicto, Pulupandan, San Enrique and Binalbagan, using the number of cases and daily attack rate as basis. The towns of Pontevedra and Hinobaan requested to be included.

Gov. Eugenio Jose V. Lacson issued a memorandum to all local chief executives outlining the Guidelines on the Roll-out and Use of Rapid Antigen Testing Kits for the Expanded Contact Tracing and Early Detection Measures. In a Zoom Meeting s with the mayors and the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT), the Governor discussed the roll out mechanisms .

He announced that the Provincial Government received an initial of 6,500 Testing Kits from the Department of Health, adding that these kits will be very useful in early detection of possible COVID-infected individuals and in effect, will enable the Provincial Government to institute control measures and prevent the rampant spread of the deadly virus that claimed so many lives.

Provincial Consultant on Economic Affairs and former Congressman Albee Benitez is actively helping address the health concerns of the province so that it can jump-start its economic activities that will provide jobs that will alleviate the plight of Negrenses especially in this time of pandemic. Benitez is also helping the province in getting more testing kits so that more people will be tested. He tapped the services of Dr. Eric Saratan as liaison or point person in coordinating with the local chief executives.

The Provincial Health Office under Dr. Ernell Tumimbang has been tasked to be the lead implementer of the said activity assisted by all component Departments of the PIMT.
A total of 120 medical technologists from various LGUs and Hospital Operations Department (HOD) - run hospitals of the province were trained by the Department of Health, Region VI. These medical technologists of the LGUs will be supervised by teams of senior medical technologists of the licensed laboratories of the nine (9) government hospitals under the Hospital Operations Department led by the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory Staff.*