ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) said there is a “marked increase” in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Western Visayas.
However, Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, medical officer IV of DOH Region 6, said there is no second wave. There is no epidemiological definition for it, she pointed out.
“We see a trend but we would like to veer away from classifying this marked increase as a second wave,” Te clarified during a virtual presser on May 24.
Citing the data (as of May 23), Te reported that Western Visayas had 6,105 active cases, 36,192 recoveries and 1,047 deaths.
She also noted that the province of Guimaras and Iloilo City were already classified as “high risk” for COVID-19 after posting a 311 percent and 87 percent growth in cases, respectively.
Meanwhile, the provinces of Aklan and Iloilo as well as Bacolod City are at moderate risk. Antique, Capiz and Negros Occidental were at low risk.
Generally, the whole Western Visayas region is at low risk.
The risk classification of a certain area is based on a two-week growth rate and its average daily attack rate per 100,000 population.
“People have to be cautious. Do not be complacent and strictly observe our minimum public health standards. We hope our local government units will really have to step up with their response also,” Te furthered.
Region 6’s average daily cases for May rose to 347 from 261 in April, 84 in March, 59 in February and 52 in January.
Also, based on the health capacity monitoring, Iloilo City is the only area in the region classified as high risk in terms of COVID beds and mechanical ventilator with 78.63 percent utilization rate. The rest of provinces and highly urbanized cities are at low risk.
The May 23 data showed that COVID Ward Beds and Intensive Care Unit Beds in Iloilo City were both 100 percent utilized, while its isolation beds and mechanical ventilators’ utilization rate were 75.46 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
With the city’s modified enhanced community quarantine status, Te hopes the number of coronavirus cases here would ease.
“Ang aton mga kasimanwa medyo nag-lax na sila, sige lang sila guwa, wala na social distancing… so this time, makapahuway lang anay sang sige lagaw, sige party. So more or less dapat i-limit ini kay amo ‘ni usually ang ginhalinan sang aton local transmission,” Te stressed.
To note, of the region’s 43,357 cumulative cases (as of May 23), 89 percent or 38,560 are caused by local transmission./PN
