By Mae Singuay

Bacolod City stays on Alert Level 1 due to COVID-19, a report from the Department of Health in Western Visayas (DOH) showed yesterday.

Maria Laarni Pornan, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head, said a total of 221 COVID-19 cases with eight deaths were recorded in the city as of yesterday.

Of the total eight deaths, two have died this month, she added.

Pornan, also the head of the local Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), said that most who died from COVID-19 were senior citizens and unvaccinated.

The active cases of the viral illness stood at 42, while the hospitalization rate is at 11.9 percent.

Pornan encourages everyone, particularly the elderly and persons with comorbidities, to wear face masks.

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental is on COVID-19 Alert Level 2, together with 25 other areas in the country, based on the IATF’s resolution issued on Sunday, April 23.

The DOH also clarified that the provinces and cities under Alert Level 2 were not escalated from Level 1.

They have remained under the same alert status since June 2022, the DOH said.

These areas are Benguet, Ifugao, Quezon Province, Palawan, Camarines Norte, Masbate, Antique, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu Province, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Western Samar, Lanao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, the Dinagat Islands, Basilan, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi.

However, 15 areas in Negros Occidental are placed under Alert Level 1. These are the cities of Cadiz, Himamaylan, Talisay, Victorias, La Carlota, Sagay, and Silay; and the towns of Candoni, Enrique B. Magalona, Ilog, Murcia, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, San Enrique, and Valladolid./MS, WDJ