BACOLOD City’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in a single day have reached another all-time high with 206 new infections recorded by various molecular laboratories in the city Friday, January 21, 2022.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), said on January 17, the highly urbanized city logged 189 new Covid-19 cases, the highest number in a day at that time.
Sorongon noted that the highest recorded new Covid-19 cases last year was in May at 180.
This time, the new Covid-19 cases are those who have either travel history, pregnant, healthcare workers and those with comorbidities with the majority of them showing no symptoms of the disease, he said.
With Covid-19 cases continuing to rise, they are considering this most likely as the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, Sorongon also said.
He disclosed the possibility that the Omicron variant has entered Bacolod undetected since a lot of travelers, who came from areas where the Omicron variant was detected, arrived in the city, especially after the holidays.
As of Friday, the molecular laboratories have submitted specimens to the Philippine Genome Center for sequencing to ascertain the variants prevalent in the Negros Occidental capital city.
Sorongon further said the City Government intensified its surveillance testing in various areas like at the Hall of Justice and Bacolod Government Center.
The management of several business establishments also requested for surveillance testing to ensure that their employees are not infected with the virus.
The EOC-TF also intensified its contact tracing to locate the close contacts of Covid-19 patients.
Sorongon also cited that some healthcare workers from the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital also tested positive for the virus.
He said the city’s hospital capacity utilization rate has reached 44 percent.