THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 will monitor the occupancy rate of different hospitals in Central Visayas, especially in Negros Oriental, which now has the highest number of active coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the region at 3,300, as of Monday, June 21, 2021.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH 7 director, said they have deployed personnel to the province to support various government and private hospitals to expand their Covid-dedicated beds and their intensive care unit capacities.
Negros Oriental has recorded a two-week growth rate (of cases) of 52 percent and an average daily attack rate of 12.64 percent, said Dr. Eugenia Mercedes Cañal of the DOH 7’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
Bernadas said there are private hospitals in Dumaguete City that have available beds because they have yet to reserve them for Covid-19 patients.
“We have encouraged them to open those spaces. We supported them with health personnel and nurses so they can expand and open,” he said. “In fact, we have already started to do that in Ace (Ace Dumaguete Doctors) and Silliman University (Silliman University Medical Center),” he added.
Bernadas said Dumaguete City has pledged to be more careful in identifying and isolating cases to contain the transmission.
He said they are also following up on Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap’s plans to open Panglao Island to tourism.
He said Bohol has the second highest Covid-19 cases in the region at 1,708.
The DOH 7 logged 43,664 cases in the region from Jan. 1 to June 19.
Of these, 9,200 were recorded in Cebu Province; 6,882 in Negros Oriental; 5,083 in Bohol; 4,105 in Mandaue City; 4,054 in Lapu-Lapu City; and 122 in Siquijor.
He said majority of the cases were asymptomatic. (WBS)