By Joseph B.A. Marzan
The average daily spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases so far in April 2021 soared compared to the previous month.
In less than a week, Western Visayas surpassed its highest single-day increase in cases, according to the latest bulletin by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD).
Data from the DOH-WV CHD’s case bulletin on April 15, 2021 indicated that 486 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the region, increasing its total tally to 31,296.
The latest batch of new cases is the highest logged in a single day, trumping the figures on April 10, which was at 419 cases.
Based on DOH-WV CHD’s data, the region has listed 3,710 new COVID-19 cases or an average daily spike of 247.33 cases.
This is a 287.67 percent increase from around the same period, March 1 to 15, where 957 cases, or a daily average of 63.8 cases, were recorded.
The number of active cases at 4,038 is also one of the highest recorded, accounting for 12.90 percent of the region’s total case count.
Negros Occidental logged 290 new cases on April 15, followed by Bacolod City with 80, Iloilo province (40), Capiz (30), Antique (19), Iloilo City (13), Aklan (12), and Guimaras (1).
It is the seventh straight day that more than a hundred new COVID-19 cases were reported in Negros Occidental, which has logged 1,373 new COVID-19 cases since April 9, or an average of 196.14 new cases per day.
The province also has the most number of active cases as of this writing, at 1,933, or 47.34 percent of all active cases in the region.
The region also logged 11 new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total COVID-19 morbidity toll to 824.
The DOH-WV CHD also confirmed that this was the first instance in a long time that recorded deaths were in the double digits.
Based on their data, in the last 30 days, the most number of COVID-19 deaths was at 6, reported on April 6.
