By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas has raised the status of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to “Alert Level 3” after the detection of four additional cases of the more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19.

The four patients include a nine-year-old boy from Silay City; a 21-year-old man from La Carlota City; a 79-year-old female from Pulupandan; and a 69-year-old female from the town of Valladolid.

It was also reported that the child patient from Silay City had already passed away, making it the first Delta-related fatality in Negros Occidental.

According to the latest situation report released by DOH-Region 6, Negros Occidental’s risk classification has been upgraded to “moderate risk” with the average daily attack rate (ADAR) rising to 1.90 from the previous 1.62.

Bacolod City’s ADAR also increased from 6.15 last week to 7.82 with the city now being tagged under the “high risk” classification.

However, despite the increased ADAR, both Negros Occidental and Bacolod City remain “low risk” in its overall healthcare utilization rate at 51.07 and 46.33 percent respectively.

Negros Occidental’s provincial administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said after receiving the results of the four additional Delta cases from the Philippine Genome Center, the three patients who are still alive have undergone a repeat swab.

Based on the patients’ records, the La Carlota City resident recently travelled to Iloilo; while the Pulupandan case recently returned from Rizal province.

Diaz added that all three have already since recovered from COVID-19./DGB, WDJ