COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental hit an all-time high Thursday, April 15, and “it will take a while before we will see a downward trend,” Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.
There were 1,936 COVID-19 active cases Thursday, the highest since the pandemic hit in March last year, Lacson said.
The province had 290 new cases Thursday, the Department of Health also reported.
Of the 290, the DOH said local cases were 213, returning overseas Filipinos – 62, locally stranded individuals – 13, and Authorized Persons Outside Residence – 2.
“Our present number of active cases may continue to increase, we all should do our share in trying to halt this rise. Avoid non-essential travel,” Lacson said.
Seven of the 31 local government units in the province have three-digit COVID cases and only Salvador Benedicto town is COVID-free, a Provincial Incident Management Team report showed Thursday.
San Carlos City had the most number of COVID-19 cases at 317 followed by Kabankalan City with 154, Himamaylan City – 148, Cauayan – 136, Cadiz City – 166, Murcia – 114 and Bago City – 107.
Lacson said areas with three-digit COVID-19 cases will be asked to shutdown their tourist destinations to curb the spread of the virus.
“The COVID-19 situation now is more worrisome than last year,” Lacson said.
“It will take awhile before we can see a downward trend…It maybe another week before see some results,” he said.
He lauded Sipalay City for opting to close its resorts even if its COVID-19 cases had not reached three-digits.
Sipalay City Thursday had 10 COVID-19 active cases, the PIMT reported.
The province has had 9,397 COVID-19 cases, 7,222 recoveries and 239 deaths since March 2020.*