MANILA – Provinces and cities in Western Visayas will be retaining their existing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) alert levels until the end of the month, Malacañang announced last night.
Iloilo city and province, Aklan, Bacolod City, Guimaras, and Capiz will still be under Alert Level 1 from June 16 to 30, according to acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar.
“These alert levels were approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases as recommended by the sub-Technical Working Group for Data Analytics,” Andanar said.
The announcement was made hours after the Department of Health (DOH) reported the detection of two more COVID-19 Omicronsubvariant cases in Western Visayas.
One wasa BA.5 subvariant case while the other was a BA.2.12.1 subvariant, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
BA.5 infections are milder than infections with other COVID strains, like delta, according to the World Health Organization. It’s the same with the BA.2.12.1 subvariant,
The detection of the two brought to 10 so far the cases of COVID-19 Omicron subvariants in Western Visayas.
Component cities and municipalities that were previously downgraded to Alert Level 1 will keep their alert levels for the remainder of the month.
They were Anini-y, San Jose, Sebaste, and Tobias Fornier in Antique and Cadiz City, Candoni, Victorias City, Enrique B. Magalona, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, Sagay City, and San Enrique in Negros Occidental.
Under COVID-19 Alert Level 1, establishments and public transportation can operate at full capacity, while schools can also implement in-person classes.
Negros Occidental and Antique, on the other hand, were recommended by the IATF-EID to stay under COVID-19 Alert Level 2 until the end of the month.
“The Alert Level 2 status of (Negros Occidental and Antique) are without prejudice to their respective component cities and municipalities which may otherwise be classified herein,” Andanar said.
Negros Occidental and Antique have been downgraded to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 since the start of March after weeks of being under Alert Level 3.
However, it is still not known whether the next administration under President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will continue IATF-EID’s use of COVID-19 alert level systems./PN
