Bacolod City – The entire Negros Oriental have been placed under Alert Level 4 by Malacañang for the next 14 days this month of November.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the Inter Agency Task Force approved the recommendation to expand the implementation of alert levels system to three more regions, including Bacolod City in Western Visayas, Negros Oriental in Central Visayas, Aurora in Central Luzon and Davao Occidental in Davao region.
Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo earlier asked IATF to reconsider its decision to place the province under Alert Level 4, stressing that it was inappropriate, noting that COVID-19 cases are decreasing and hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, not from the province, but from southern Cebu and Siquijor.
Negros Occidental, however, is on the list of Alert Level 2 areas in the country.
Areas under Alert Level 4 are those with high or increasing cases of COVID-19, hospital bed and intensive care utilization.
IATF prohibits face to face classes, contact sports, movie houses amusement parks, casinos, gatherings in residences with individuals not belonging to the same households, while 20 percent of workforce in government shall be only allowed to report on site.
COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental further dropped to 3,170 yesterday, from its peak of 4,400 two weeks ago, according to a report of the Provincial Incident Management Team.
(Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star, photo courtesy of Bacolod City Public Information Office)