Some WV towns placed under Alert Level 1

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

More places in Western Visayas slide to Alert Level 1 for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) starting today, April 1, 2022 with the inclusion of some towns in the provinces of Antique, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental.

Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar on Thursday announced the respective alert levels of provinces, cities, and towns for April 1 to 15.

In Western Visayas, Aklan, Capiz, Bacolod City, and Iloilo City will remain under Alert Level 1.

The new alert level assignment saw some towns also sliding to the lowest alert level.

These include San Jose and Sebaste in Antique; Anilao, Balasan, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Barotac Viejo, Bingawan, Concepcion, Dueñas, Guimbal, Janiuay, Lemery, Mina, Pototan, San Dionisio, and Santa Barbara in Iloilo province; and E.B. Magalona, La Carlota City, Pulupandan, Sagay City, and San Enrique in Negros Occidental.

The rest of Antique, Iloilo province, and Negros Occidental will remain under Alert Level 2.

Region 6’s most recent COVID situational report as of March 29 was released by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) on Wednesday, March 30.

The report stated that new COVID-19 cases in the region declined by 39 percent between the 14-day periods of March 13 to 26 (504 cases) and Feb. 27 to March 12 (831 cases).

The DOH data also indicated that only 0.45 cases per 100,000 people were detected from March 13 to 26.

The region is currently at Minimal Risk for COVID-19, which is the same risk level for Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Bacolod City, Guimaras Iloilo province, and Negros Occidental.

Iloilo City remains at the higher ‘Low Risk’ column after reporting 1.08 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent period.

The rest of the region reported less than 1 case per 100,000 population.

As of March 30, the region logged 183,110 COVID cases (2,655 active cases; 174,834 recoveries; and 5,529 deaths).