MANILA – There are no changes in the alert levels in Western Visayas for the first 15 days of July despite the detection of 46 additional Omicron subvariants cases in the region.
According to acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar, Negros Occidental and Antique will remain under coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Alert Level 2 from July 1 to 15.
Iloilo city and province, Aklan, Bacolod City, Guimaras and Capiz, meanwhile, will retain their COVID-19 Alert Level 1 statuses for the same period.
The component cities and municipalities from Negros Occidental in Cadiz City, Candoni, Talisay City, Victorias City, Enrique B., Magalona (Saravia), La Carlota City, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, Sagay City, San Enrique, and Valladolid and in Antique in Anini-y, San Jose (capital), Sebaste, and Tobias Fornier (Dao) are also under Alert Level 1.
The new COVID-19 Alert Level status came despite the Department of Health (DOH) reporting of 46 additional cases of Omicron subvariants BA.5, BA.2.12.1, and BA.4 in the region.
DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Tuesday afternoon that there were additional 38 BA.5 cases, seven BA.2.12.1 cases and one BA.4 cases in Western Visayas.
“The exposure of the infected individuals remains unknown and authorities are still verifying their travel histories,” Vergeire said.
Andanar, however, said that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) revised the matrices to be used for the Alert Level System.
“Assignment of Alert Level shall be based on the revised cross tabulation of total beds utilization rate and average daily attack rate,” Andanar said.
The new matrix removed the two-week growth rate in determining case-risk classification and instead, case-risk classification will be based on average daily attack rates and current thresholds.
“The total COVID-19 bed utilization rate will remain as well as other current thresholds as main metrics for health system capacity,” the outgoing Palace spokesperson added.
Andanar also said that employers are now mandated to require on-site, eligible workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Alert Level 2 areas such as Negros Occidental and Antique.
“Vaccination for onsite workers shall be mandatory in areas with enough vaccine supplies. Unvaccinated on-site workers shall be required to undergo RT-PCR test once every 2 weeks or weekly antigen tests,” Andanar said./PN
