Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he believes that there is a “close to surge” of COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental as he noted a daily increase of active cases in the past two weeks.
“Definitely more contagious variants are present in Negros Occidental,” Lacson said as the province logged two fatalities of the highly-infectious Delta variant, including a 40-year-old returning overseas Filipino in San Carlos City, and the nine-year-old boy from Silay City.
Lacson said the Delta variant has already invaded Negros Occidental although the results of genome sequencing of COVID cases were released by the Philippine Genome Center only recently.
It doesn’t matter anymore what the variant is, the concern is that the virus is still here, Lacson said, stressing the need to observe minimum health protocols.
“It’s more of a discipline behavior on our part, such as avoiding gatherings” to prevent the further spread of COVID, he added.
Negros Occidental logged 1,156 COVID active cases, with six deaths, on Sept. 6, from its lowest figure of around 600 last month.
The Department of Health-Center for Health and Development 6 reported that COVID cases are rising anew in Western Visayas, especially in the highly-urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod, as well as the provinces of Negros Occidental, Guimaras, and Iloilo, from Aug. 20 to Sept. 2.
New cases reported in Region 6 rose by 16 percent, from 8,359 from Aug. 6 to 19, to 9,696 for the Aug. 20 to Sept. 2 period, and Negros Occidental posted the highest increase at 64 percent.
It was followed by Iloilo City with a 44 percent hike, Guimaras and Iloilo province with 41 percent each, and 26 percent in Bacolod City.
The other areas, meanwhile, posted a decline in new cases, including Capiz at negative 15 percent, Antique (-34), and Aklan (-55).
However, the number of cases per 100,000 population increased, and Iloilo City recorded a 24.75 percent hike, Guimaras 17.20, Iloilo province 14.85, Bacolod City 8.55, Aklan 6.64, Antique 6.04, Capiz 5.14, and Negros Occidental at 2.73 percent.
Based on the rate of COVID facility admissions, Guimaras is on full capacity or 100 percent, followed by Iloilo City at 77.19, Iloilo province 73.28, Capiz 58.43, Negros Occidental 51.82, Antique 51.16, Bacolod City 44.58, and Aklan at 25.68 percent. — GB
