BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental will not close its borders to Iloilo where cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are again rising.
According to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, “right now cases are manageable” thus the province is not going back to lockdowns and border closures.
Most COVID-19 cases are now mild, proving that vaccination works, he added.
As for the province’s COVID-19 situation, Lacson said Negros Occidental remains under Alert Level 2 but this due mainly to sluggish COVID-19 vaccination.
“Our hospitals have no build-up of COVID-19 cases,” Lacson pointed out.
“Lately it went up to 33 (cases), but it went down again because of the recoveries on new cases. We’ll see and observe what’s happening in Iloilo and how severe the cases are,” said Lacson.
Based on the July 6 monitoring of the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas, Negros Occidental only recorded five new cases, while its capital Bacolod City recorded only four.
Neighboring Iloilo and Iloilo City, meanwhile, saw an uptick – 28 and 63 new cases, respectively.
Despite the increase, DOH Region 6 data as of June 28 showed hospitalization still down at 28.74 percent healthcare utilization rate (HCUR).
Of the 171 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the region, only 15.79 percent were occupied, while of the 1,763 COVID isolation ward beds, only 31.82 percent were occupied./PN