Most coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) isolation centers in Negros Occidental are already empty as local cases continue to decrease in number.

In the first few weeks of the pandemic last year, the province opened various quarantine and isolation facilities called healing centers in Mambukal Resort in Murcia town as well as in the “Yolanda” housing sites in E.B. Magalona town and cities of Silay and Cadiz.

“We are happy with what the province has achieved,” Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II told reporters on Thursday.

He said there are no longer occupants in the healing centers in Silay and Cadiz while the number of patients in the E.B. Magalona site is only in single digit.

With zero Covid-19 patients by the end of November, the province already reopened the Mambukal Resort on December 1.

Diaz said the number of provincial government-run district hospitals catering exclusively to Covid-19 patients has also been reduced after the Gov. Valeriano M. Gatuslao Memorial Hospital in Himamaylan City and the Valladolid District Hospital in Valladolid town resumed services for other medical cases.

The Covid-19 patient occupancy in the Cadiz District Hospital in Cadiz City is now only at 30 percent, he added.

Diaz urged Negrenses to continue supporting the campaign of the province against Covid-19 by adhering to the minimum health protocols.

“When you go out, put your mask on especially in enclosed and crowded areas to minimize risk. Know how to live with the virus and we can hope to have a very merry Christmas,” he said.

As of December 8, Negros Occidental only has 353 remaining active Covid-19 cases. (PNA)