Bacolod experiencing third wave of COVID

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  • MITCH M. LIPA

Bacolod City is experiencing the third wave of COVID infections based on the latest surge of cases and deaths, executive director Em Ang of the Emergency Operations Center said.

She said that based on the average of new cases for the day, Bacolod is now at 95 percent and the figure is nearing the daily percentage rate logged in June this year at 119 percent.

The EOC said the second wave was experienced in June 2021, and the first wave in September 2020.

Ang also raised the alarm on the increasing number of COVID deaths at 57.

“This is only half way for the month and the recent deaths were not yet encoded since the EOC is waiting for the death certificates, including those of some media personalities, who died recently.

COVID-related deaths in August stood at 57. The highest record was September 2020 with 76 deaths. Since the pandemic started, Bacolod has recorded 500 deaths.

For a number of days, Bacolod also logged cases in triple digits.

Ang said that 150 new cases were recorded Sept. 16, and the tracking team is fully occupied in extracting these patients from their homes and isolating them in quarantine facilities.

The presence of the Delta variant in Bacolod is one reason for the recent increase in cases, the EOC said.

Bacolod has recorded 21 Delta infections, including the nine new patients found positive of the highly-contagious variant, and one death.

A 57-year-old driver from Barangay Mandalagan was the first death related to Delta variant.

Of the eight Delta patients who needed to be re-swabbed, the tracking team was able to locate seven, while the family of the remaining one refused to tell the whereabouts of the subject.

The team was able to re-swab 19 close contacts and four tested positive of the virus. They were already brought to the isolation facilities of the city. – MML