BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Department of Health- Western Visayas downgraded the risk classification of Negros Occidental Alert Level 3, while the highly-urbanized Bacolod City remains at Alert Level 4.
Areas under alert level 3 are those with high case count of COVID-19, with increasing health care utilization, regardless of Delta variant presence, while alert level 4 are those with huge case count and high health care utilization rates.
As of October 10, the Health Care Utilization Rate (HCUR) of Negros Occidental reduced to 53.85 percent from 74.87 percent last week, compared to 75.90 percent of Bacolod City, Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, of the DOH-WV- Center for Health Development, revealed during a virtual presser yesterday.
However, the risk classification of both the province and Bacolod City downgraded to moderate, due to two-week reduction in COVID-19 growth cases, and slight reduction in Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR) per 100,000 population.
The ADAR of Negros Occidental was recorded at 8.12 percent, while it was 22.50 percent in Bacolod City, per 100,000 population.
As of October 11, the Provincial Incident Management Team logged 4,254 COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental.
Provincial Inter Agency Task Force action officer Rayfrando Diaz yesterday said that travelers who are fully vaccinated with authenticated Quick Response (QR) IDs are now allowed to enter Negros Occidental without a negative RT-PCR Test result, citing an Executive Order issued this month by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson.
Diaz explained that the protocol is the same that travelers entering the province should first register to the Safe, Swift and Smart Passage (S-PASS) that requires either a negative RT-PCR test or the verifiable vaccination card.
All the vaccination cards should reflect in the provincial Management Information System or the vaccination portal of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).
“We want to accept people who are fully vaccinated with authenticated cards,” Diaz said.
The vaccination cards should have a QR coded ID to avail of the privilege, he said, stressing also that the travel protocol has already been approved by the National Inter-Agency Task Force.*
