At least a million individuals in Eastern Visayas are being targeted in the three-day vaccination campaign of the Department of Health (DOH) to end on February 2.

With this vaccination drive, the DOH expects that almost 100 percent of the region’s population will receive at least one dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

“The simultaneous implementation of the said vaccination drive in all six provinces aims to vaccinate at least one million individuals in three days; facilitate the vaccination activities and expedite vaccination of individuals with zero doses, those with due/missed second doses, and booster doses by devoting three days solely for vaccination activities regionwide,” the DOH said in a statement issued Monday night.

Based on the latest data from the Eastern Visayas Covid-19 vaccination dashboard, a total of 2.21 million residents of the region are now fully vaccinated. This accounts for 44.5 percent of the region’s total population.

There are already 2.37 million residents administered with first doses.

“With this, Eastern Visayas is left with over 2.27 million residents to vaccinate in order to strengthen community protection in the region,” the DOH added.

Even when the region is gearing towards strengthened community protection and massive vaccination campaigns, the health department reminds the public — vaccinated or not — to continue to adhere and practice public health measures.

On Monday, the region reported 60 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, the lowest daily number of infections since the region recorded a spike of cases in the second week of January.

Still, the decrease of new cases should not be considered that coronavirus is slowing down, said Jelyn Lopez Malibago, DOH regional information officer, in a message sent to reporters late Monday.

“It is still early to say that our cases are on a decline. These 60 new cases are just from the 273 samples tested in our two Covid-19 testing laboratories,” Malibago said.

The provinces of Biliran and Southern Leyte have been placed under Alert Level 2 starting February 1 while the rest of the region, including its capital city of Tacloban is categorized under a stricter Alert Level 3.

As of January 31, Eastern Visayas has already recorded 60,501 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 57,505 recoveries and total 642 deaths.

This brings the total active cases to 2,354. (PNA)