Negros Occidental and the highly-urbanized Bacolod City have been listed under the “critical” risk classification for COVID-19 by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health and Development, due to the increasing number of active cases.
The province and city are also among many areas in the country that are on Alert Level 3 community restriction until Feb. 15, as announced by the national Inter-Agency Task Force Jan. 30.
The DOH6 noted an increase in the healthcare utilization rate of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City at 62.26 percent and 56.35 percent, respectively.
The Average Daily Attack Rate of Bacolod City also rose from 8.12 to 27.14 per 100,000 population in the past two weeks, while Negros Occidental logged an increase of 8.04, from 2.48 in the same period.
Growth rate of cases for Negros Occidental was recorded at 224 percent, and 234 percent for Bacolod City.
This developed as Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson still requires inbound travelers to the province to present a negative antigen or RT-PCR test result, despite the downgrading of Metro Manila and neighboring areas to Alert Level 2, effective Feb. 1.
Lacson stressed that the provincial government will honor negative antigen test result 48 hours prior to arrival, and 72 hours for RT-PCR, which should be issued by accredited Department of Health laboratories or clinics, from the point of origin.
In case passengers cannot secure the lab results from the point of origin, Lacson said they should manifest that they are willing to be tested upon arrival, either at the seaport in Bacolod City or at the Bacolod-Silay Airport, stressing also that they should indicate it in their S-PaSS application.
As agreed by Lacson and Mayor Evelio Leonardia during their virtual meeting Jan. 28, Bacolod-bound passengers will only be required to present negative Rapid Antigen Test results, issued by accredited DOH laboratories, in lieu of negative RT-PCR, starting Feb. 1. | GB
