Following a steady decline of new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in recent weeks, the city has breached the 90-percent recovery rate, data released by the City Health Office (CHO) on Wednesday showed.

Out of the 4,750 confirmed cases since March, a total of 4,298, or 90.48 percent, have recovered as of Oct. 27. Some 50 new recoveries were logged on the same day.

Data also showed that Bacolod had only one new case on Tuesday, the lowest single-day record in several months.

There are 330 still active cases, or 6.95 percent, who are all recovering in various isolation facilities. There are 122 deaths or 2.57 percent of the total cases.

In an interview, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the development is a “big thing” for Bacolod.

“There was really a system. There were things that we did that resulted to this,” he added.

Leonardia said the last time Bacolod recorded a zero single-day case was around April or May.

He noted that in August, the city had an average of 39 cases a day, but the figures spiked to a daily average of 87 cases by September. However, in the first two weeks of October cases, eventually went down to only an average of 23 cases a day.

Through the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), supervised by Melquiades Feliciano, chief implementer of the Inter-Agency Task Force-Visayas, Bacolod implemented various interventions and systems to contain local transmission.

These included the creation of the One Hospital Command Center, setting up of the Bacolod City Covid-19 Contact Tracing (BaC-Trac) System, and the conduct of “mass” and surveillance tests, among others.

Even as the Covid-19 cases continue to decrease in Bacolod, Feliciano urged residents of Bacolod with early symptoms of Covid-19 to seek immediate medical attention.

“Strict monitoring of symptomatic individuals is important for them to avoid developing moderate to severe symptoms that could lead to hospitalization, and worst -– death,” he said.

Data from the EOC Task Force showed that in October, 157 out of 706 individuals with flu-like symptoms have tested positive for Covid-19, which translates into a positivity rate of 22.24 percent.

Residents can avail of free consultation and swabbing at the Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient Center inside the BAYS Center, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays to Fridays. (PNA)