A Department of Health national biosurveillance report placed Bacolod City under Alert Level 3 for COVID-19 and Negros Occidental under Alert Level 2, Bacolod City Administrator Em Ang said Sunday, August 8.
Alert Level 3 means case counts are high and or increasing with health care capacity utilization up, the DOH said.
Ang, however, noted that COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City and health care utilization have dropped in recent weeks. Bacolod’s active COVID-19 cases were also down to three digits, with 868 cases on Sunday.
The DOH said Alert Level 2 means case counts are low and decreasing but health care utilization is increasing.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz questioned Negros Occidental’s being placed under Alert Level 2 when its hospitals are not fully occupied or overbooked. There is no reason to put Negros Occidental under Level 2, he said.
The DOH placed Negros Oriental under Alert Level 1 and Iloilo province and Iloilo City under Alert Level 4.
Alert level 1 means case transmission and health care utilization is low, while Alert Level 4 means case counts are high and or increasing, and there is a high health care capacity utilization, the DOH said.
DELTA CASE DENIED
Meanwhile, Ang said a message circulating on social media that a patient at Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City has been hit by the COVID-19 Delta variant is fake news.
Ang said she contacted Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease section of the DOH in Western Visayas, and she categorically stated that as of Sunday, there is no reported Delta variant case in Bacolod City.
The DOH on Friday reported that all 31 new Delta variant cases in Western Visayas were in Panay Island.
“I am calling on everyone to refrain from posting, sharing, spreading false, unverified, reports that may cause panic and confusion,” Ang said.
“Let us cooperate in our fight to stop COVID-19 from further affecting our city,” she added.*