Ilocos region sees slight increase in weekly COVID-19 cases

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — COVID-19 cases reported in the Ilocos region between April 16 and 22 rose slightly by 10.5 percent compared to the previous week, with 42 persons infected, the regional Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday, April 25.

The figure brought the daily average cases to six, the DOH said in an advisory.

None of the 42 new cases severe or critical. No deaths due to COVID-19 were also verified by the health department in the past week.

Health facilities for COVID-19 patients in the region remained at a “safe” level, with 16 of the 152 intensive care unit (ICU) beds set aside for suspect, probable, and confirmed cases occupied.

The DOH said 111 of the 1,260 non-ICU beds were also occupied.

Four provinces in the region—Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan—remained under alert level 1, or the least restrictive under the government’s alert level system for COVID-19, until the end of April, according to the bimonthly resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Alert level 1 was also retained in Dagupan City in Pangasinan province.

The regional DOH reminded the public to adhere to COVID-19 protocols to prevent the spread of the disease.

The public was urged to “double up protection with vaccination” by getting the primary and booster doses of the vaccines.

While the region has at least 3.8 million fully vaccinated individuals, only 40 percent of the 1.5 million have received at least one dose of the booster shots, according to regional DOH data. INQ

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