The number of active COVID-19 cases in Tagbilaran City continued its downtrend as it dropped to 15 as of Tuesday afternoon, according to data from Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force.

Tagbilaran City’s active COVID-19 case tally soared to over 100 in January but steadily went back down to double digits in February.

Tagbilaran City Health Office (CHO) spokesperson Robin Culpa said the city only logged two new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

Culpa expressed optimism that the city along with the province will be placed under the less restrictive Alert Level 1 from Level 2 amid the decreasing number of new cases in the city.

However, Culpa noted that the national IATF also puts into consideration the vaccination rate of a locality in determining the alert level.

Culpa noted that while the city has surpassed its target number of vaccine recipients which is 70 percent of the total population, the rest of the province continued to lag in terms of inoculation against COVID-19.

“Nindot gyud unta og mga Alert Level 1 ta kay it’s a more lax environment but the thing is ang usa sa indicator ug usa ka factor ani is vaccination rate accomplishment sa entire province so in terms of vaccination rate, taas ang Tagbilaran but the thing is the entirety of the province is ubos pa gihapon gyud kaayo, maglisod pa na ma-declare,” said Culpa.

The IATF’s Alert Level categorization is done per province or independent highly urbanized city.

According to Culpa, residents should still not be complacent and continue to observe basic health safety protocols such as observing social distancing and wearing of facemask to prevent another surge in cases.

“Although nagkaanam-anam na og ubos ang atong kaso, magpabilin lang gihapon tang magbinatayon ug disiplinado,” he said.