WE HEAR...

are the areas experience surges,” Last week, various sectors

na nakaka- in Iloilo City appealed for more

po ngayon ng vaccines from the national government.

“It is being addressed by the National Task Force ( Against COVID- 19). You don’t have to worry. The President ordered an equitable distribution of vaccines,” said Roque. “There will be relief.”

Nine cities and 12 provinces, including those in the Visayas and Mindanao, are under the second strictest lockdown level at least until the end of June due to an uptick in coronavirus cases.

In a separate press conference on Wednesday, the Department of Health tagged Western Visayas as one of the four regions that are currently “high risk” for COVID-19.

Epidemiologist Alethea de Guzman said Western Visayas was considered high risk because its average daily attack rate – the number of infected people per 100,000 population – has gone above seven.

De Guzman also said the region has a high COVID-19 bed occupancy rate (as of June 21).

Around 70 percent to nearly 85 percent of Intensive Care Units ( ICU) beds in the region were already occupied by COVID-hit patients, she pointed out.

The OCTA Research Group, in its latest report released on Tuesday night, tagged the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo as among the localities with the highest average COVID- 19 cases from June 15 to 21.

According to the research group, Bacolod City reported 114 average new cases per day, while Iloilo City has an average of 88 new cases per day, making them among “the areas of concern.”/