ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) reported 130 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Western Visayas on Aug. 1, the highest single-day count for new cases in the region.
One of these cases, however, was tagged to another region.
On Aug. 2, DOH recorded an additional 45 new cases, bringing the region’s cumulative cases to 1,418, according to its Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
DOH Region 6 also reported two additional deaths – a 75-year-old male from Bacolod City and a 74-year-old male from Arevalo, Iloilo City, bringing Western Visayas’ COVID-19 death toll to 20.
With 706 recovered cases, however, the region’s active cases stood at 692.
On Aug. 1 and 2, DOH-6 recorded 32 and eight new recoveries, respectively.
Based on the Aug. 1 DOH-6 bulletin, of the 130 new confirmed cases, Bacolod City had the highest at 74 followed by Iloilo City with 24; Negros Occidental, 17; Iloilo province, six; Capiz, five; and Guimaras, three.
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan City, China in December 2019.
Of the 130 new cases, returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) logged the highest number of positive cases at 72 followed by locally stranded individuals (LSIs) with 26. One was an authorized person outside of residence (APOR), and 30 were indigenous cases.
One APOR was tagged to Taguig City.
Meanwhile, the Saturday’s recovered cases included 12 patients each from the provinces of Iloilo and Negros Occidental, five from Bacolod City, one from Capiz, and two from Iloilo City.
To date, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-19. However, those affected should receive care to relieve symptoms. People with serious illness should be hospitalized. Most patients recover thanks to supportive care.
Possible vaccines and some specific drug treatments are under investigation. They are being tested through clinical trials. The World Health Organization is coordinating efforts to develop vaccines and medicines to prevent and treat COVID-19.
DOH-6 Bulletin No. 128, on the other hand, showed that the 45 new cases on Sunday were from 692 laboratory test results released by four laboratory centers.
Twenty eight of the 45 cases were from Negros Occidental, 15 from Bacolod City, and one each from Iloilo City and Antique.
Eight more cases who recovered were from Negros Occidental (four), Iloilo (two), Iloilo City (one), and Capiz (one).
As to the total cases per area as of Aug. 2, Bacolod City had the highest number of cases at 128 (110 active cases), followed by Iloilo City at 100 (with 53 active cases); Iloilo province, 89 (30 active cases); Negros Occidental, 49 (26 active cases); Antique, 15 (zero active cases); Aklan, six (zero active cases); and Guimaras, one (also an active case).
Twenty-six cases were detected in Western Visayas but tagged to other regions.
Meantime, there were 1,023 cases of ROFs, LSIs and APORs recorded in the region as of Aug. 2 of which 551 of them already recovered while 471 remained as active cases./PN
