BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Negros Occidental are starting to drop, according to Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.
Data from the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) showed the province had 4,069 active COVID cases (as of Oct. 18) after peaking close to 4,500 on Oct. 15.
Diaz hopes the numbers will continue to drop.
Quarantine centers in the province are also starting to clear up with the E.B. Magalona Provincial Healing Center down to 68 positive cases; the Silay City Quarantine Center with 54 cases; and the Mambukal Quarantine Facility with 30.
Diaz said those quarantined in Mambukal were all employees of the provincial government and their families.
Meanwhile, despite the decline in coronavirus cases, Diaz said hospitals in the province remained a concern.
Moderate to severe COVID patients were in the hospitals, most of which were unvaccinated, according to Diaz.
Data from PIMT showed, as of Oct. 16, the hospital occupancy in the Cadiz City District Hospital was at 102 percent with 95 patients currently being treated.
The Valladolid District Hospital, meanwhile, had an occupancy rate of 92 percent with 36 COVID-19 patients, while the Valeriano Gatuslao District Hospital in Himamaylan City was at 66.67 percent occupancy with 34 patients.
“Kadamo na sang mga naga-recover pero damo man ang gina-ospital,” Diaz said.
Negrenses should not let their guards down as “4,000 active cases is still a big number,” he stressed./PN
