President Rodrigo Duterte announced Monday night, June 14, that Bacolod City and Negros Occidental will remain under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) from June 16 to 30, even as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in both areas.
Iloilo City, Iloilo province and Negros Oriental will be under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), Duterte added.
The Department of Health on Monday classified Western Visayas as a high risk area for COVID-19 with the average daily attack rate of the virus having increased from 5.67 percent from May 16 to 29, to 7.12 percent from May 30 to June 12.
Bacolod City remains a high risk area for COVID-19, the DOH also said.
The COVID-19 daily attack rate of Bacolod City increased from 13.95 percent from May 16 to 29, to 20.16 percent from May 30 to June 12, DOH data showed.
Also classified as high risk areas are Iloilo City, Aklan and Guimaras.
Iloilo province was classified as a moderate risk area, and Negros Occidental, Antique and Capiz as low risk.
There were 152 new COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and 60 in Bacolod City on Monday, the DOH reported.
Negros Occidental has 2,379 active COVID-19 cases and Bacolod City has 1,946, it added.
Members of the medical community have called for more stringent measures against COVID-19 in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City amid what they said is an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases.
The business community, however, said a higher quarantine level would hurt the local economy.*