The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas placed Negros Occidental under the highest alert level for COVID-19 for the first time on Monday, September 20.
Negros Occidental is now under COVID-19 Alert Level 4 along with Bacolod City, Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, DOH 6 medical coordinator for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, said in a virtual press conference.
Alert Level 4 means case counts are high or increasing and health care capacity is at high utilization, she said.
But Negros Occidental’s risk classification remained at moderate, she added.
Negros Occidental’s COVID-19 positivity rate from August 19 to September 1 was at 2.92 percent, and rose to 5.85 percent from September 2 to 15, Te said.
The province had 2,952 active COVID-19 cases on Monday and five new deaths – three in Bago City and two in Murcia, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported.
Negros Occidental had 144 new COVID-19 cases on Monday with Bago City recording the highest at 22, followed by Kabankalan City with 13 and Escalante City with 22.
Bacolod City, on the other hand, remained at Alert Level 4 with a risk classification of high, she said.
Bacolod City had 1,836 active COVID-19 cases and four new deaths on Monday, the DOH reported.
Te said Bacolod City’s COVID-19 positivity rate from August 19 to September 1 was at 9.56 percent , and rose to 17.18 percent from September 2 to 15.
Bacolod City has been hit with 22 Delta variant cases and Negos Occidental with 19.
The entire Western Visayas remains a high risk area for COVID-19.*