A health official in Negros Oriental said yesterday that the reopening of some areas in the province to domestic tourists is not the reason for the spike in local coronavirus disease 2019 cases.
Assistant Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, the Covid-19 incident commander of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said in a virtual presser that the rise in cases in some municipalities was mostly due to local or community transmission.
“In the case of Dauin, it started with a church choir member, whose family members were also infected, as well as other contacts,” she said in a mix of English and Cebuano dialect.
Dauin town is now instituting measures to stem the further spread of the virus, she added.
Dauin has seen a sudden rise in Covid-19 cases in the past weeks, prompting town officials to issue a statement early this week to allay public fear and prevent false information circulating on social media platforms.
Late last year, the Department of Tourism, in cooperation with the provincial government of Negros Oriental, launched its tourism revival program in Dauin, San Jose, and Pamplona towns but limited it to local visitors.
Dauin is a tourism hub with many resort hotels, and it is where the famed dive destination, Apo Island, is located.
As of April 28, the province of Negros Oriental had a total Covid-19 caseload of 2,475, broken down into 2,088 recoveries, 318 active positive cases, and 69 mortalities, Estacion said.
Of the 318 active infections, Dumaguete City has 51, Siaton – 40, Sibulan – 38, Dauin – 36, Guihulngan City – 34, Bayawan City and Vallerhermoso – 14 each, and Canlaon City – 13, while the other towns and cities have 10 or less cases.
PHL COVID SITUATION
The Department of Health reported yesterday that 6,636 patients have beaten the virus, pushing the total number of recoveries nationwide to 942,239.
This is equivalent to a 91.6-percent recovery rate out of the country’s total case tally of 1,028,738.
The agency’s latest case bulletin also reported 8,276 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 69,354.
Of the active cases, about 94.9 percent are mild, 1.6 percent are asymptomatic, 1.4 percent are severe, 0.92 are moderate, and 1.1 percent are in critical condition.
The DOH also logged 114 more deaths yesterday, pushing the death toll to 17,145.
“There were 33 duplicates removed from the total case count, and of these, 24 are recoveries. Moreover, 68 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” it said.
All laboratories were operational on April 27 while one laboratory was not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.
The department also reported that 64 percent of 1,900 intensive care unit beds, 47 percent of 13,500 isolation beds, 50 percent of 6,000 ward beds, and 46 percent of 2,000 ventilators dedicated to patients with Covid-19 are currently in use nationwide.
Meanwhile, 72 percent of 800 intensive care unit beds, 54 percent of 3,800 isolation beds, 63 percent of 2,200 ward beds, and 57 percent of 800 ventilators dedicated to patients with Covid-19 are used in the National Capital Region.
The public is reminded to stay at home and to observe minimum health standards when going out.
The DOH urged those experiencing Covid-19 symptoms to immediately isolate and contact the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams.*PNA
