MALAY town in Aklan, which is known for its paradise island of Boracay, has recorded another death due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The new mortality was a tourist from Caloocan who was found dead inside his hotel room. He later tested positive for coronavirus.

The Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit said in a report released Monday night, January 10, that Aklan now has 199 active Covid-19 cases, of which 44 were registered in Malay.

With this, the Department of Health (DOH) said it is studying the possibility of placing the whole province of Aklan under Alert Level 3.

Aklan is currently under Alert Level 2.

Earlier, Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores said the surge in Covid-19 cases may be due to the Omicron variant, a highly transmissible strain of Sars-CoV-2.

The DOH is yet to release an official report on the Covid-19 surge in Aklan.

The Aklan Provincial Health Office (PHO) said though that the province has already achieved herd immunity against Covid-19 as of January 6, 2022, with around 71 percent of Aklan’s eligible population already vaccinated.

The PHO said Aklan has an eligible population of 427,664 or 70 percent of 610,948 residents (2015 census).

Around 304,536 individuals or 71.20 had been fully vaccinated, while 353,486 or 82.66 percent have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines. (SunStar Philippines)