Western Visayas back to ‘Low Risk’ for COVID-19

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Latest data presented by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) on Monday, Feb. 21, 2022 showed that the region has returned to the “Low Risk” status for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) following the surge in mid-January.

DOH-WV CHD data as of Feb 20 indicated that between the 14-day period of Feb. 4 and 17, only 3,932 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were logged in the region.

The latest number is a 74 percent drop from the number of new cases confirmed over the previous 14-day period of Jan. 21 to Feb. 3 (14,958).

The number of new cases in the region per 100,000 population also dropped to 3.50 from 13.30.

The latest COVID data means that the region has dropped to Low Risk on Feb. 20 from Moderate Risk on Feb. 13, due to the continuous downtrend in cases.

As to the percentage rate of COVID-19-dedicated health care resources, the region is currently at a 35.39 percent utilization.

Alert level indications also point to Alert Level 2 for the entire region, with almost all areas within the same status, except for Bacolod City (Alert Level 1) and Iloilo City (Alert Level 3).

On a per-area basis, all provinces and Bacolod City have also dropped to Low Risk, except for Iloilo City, which is still considered Moderate Risk amid a visible drop in cases.

The regional center, while enjoying an 83-percent drop in new cases (883 from 4,477) over the recent 14-day period, still has a high frequency of new cases per 100,000 people (11.36), higher than the regional average.

As for the rest of the region, Aklan enjoys the highest decline in new cases confirmed in a 14-day period (85 percent), followed by Bacolod City and Capiz (81 percent each), Negros Occidental (78 percent), Antique (66 percent), Iloilo province (56 percent), and Guimaras (14 percent).

Aklan also has the lowest number of new cases per 100,000 people (1.21), followed by Capiz (1.50), Negros Occidental (1.61), Antique (2.94), Bacolod City (3.64), Iloilo province (5.40), and Guimaras (6.09).

Iloilo City also remains the highest in health care utilization in the region (51.64 percent), followed by Guimaras (46.55 percent), Iloilo province (41.33 percent), Capiz (26.06 percent), Negros Occidental (24.38 percent), Antique (23.08 percent), Bacolod City (18.29 percent), and Aklan (11.85 percent).

DOH-WV CHD’s full COVID-19 data as of Feb. 20 indicated that there have been a total 180,937 cases (12,479 active, 163,299 recovered, and 5,089 dead).