THE Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas has raised the status of Negros Occidental to "Alert Level 3" after the detection of four additional cases of the highly transmissive Delta variant of Covid-19.

The four patients include a nine-year-old boy from Silay City, a 21-year-old man from La Carlota City, a 79-year-old female from Pulupandan and a 69-year-old female from the town of Valladolid.

It was also reported that the child patient from Silay City had already passed away, making it the first delta-related Covid-19 fatality in Negros Occidental.

According to the latest situation report released by DOH-Western Visayas, Negros Occidental's risk classification has been upgraded to "moderate risk" with the average daily attack rate (Adar) rising to 1.90 from the previous 1.62.

Bacolod City's Adar also increased from 6.15 last week to 7.82 with the city now being tagged under the "high risk" classification.

However, despite the increased Adar, both Negros Occidental and Bacolod City remain "low risk" in their overall healthcare utilization rate at 51.07 and 46.33 percent, respectively.

Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said that after receiving the results of the four additional patients from the Philippine Genome Center, the three patients who are still alive have undergone a repeat swab.

Based on the patients' records, the La Carlota City-resident recently traveled to Iloilo, while the Pulupandan case recently returned from Rizal province.

Diaz added that all three have already since recovered from Covid-19.