Uncontrolled gatherings contribute to the continuous spike in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Negros Oriental, assistant provincial health officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, said Thursday.
In a virtual press briefing, Estacion, the health committee chair of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), reiterated her appeal to the public to refrain from holding and attending unnecessary gatherings as these present a high risk of Covid-19 spread.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Negros Oriental stands at 1,359 with 1,113 recoveries, 207 active cases, and 39 deaths since the start of the pandemic, she said.
“We have plenty of recoveries even if the number of positive cases has not yet shown a significant decline,” Estacion added.
Early this year, she described the spike in Covid-19 cases in the province as a “post-holiday surge,” which was projected late last year because of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Estacion previously said they were hoping to see a drop in cases in the succeeding weeks but this has not occurred because of the social and personal gatherings that continue amid repeated calls by health and government authorities against mass convergence.
There is community transmission in this capital and some other local government units (LGUs) because of people who insist on holding gatherings with close interaction and longer exposure to other people, she said in the dialect.
Estacion warned that unless people cooperate with the authorities, the number of Covid-19 infections in the province would not decline.
On Thursday, the province received 286 swab test results, broken down into 251 negative (with 23 recoveries), 14 new positive, and 21 repeat-swab positive infections, she said.
The 14 new infections were from Dumaguete City (5); Bais City (4); Sibulan (2); and one each from Bacong, Bindoy, and Pamplona, Estacion said.
The 23 new recoveries, meanwhile, were from Sibulan (16); two each from San Jose and Bais City; and one each from Bindoy, Tanjay City, and Guihulngan City. (PNA)
