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MANILA - The mayor of Dumaguete City believes the easing of travel restrictions could be behind the rise in COVID-19 cases in the city.

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"Natandaan niyo nagspike NCR Plus 2 months ago. During that time, untimely, lumuwag din ang probinsiya namin, meaning yung travel protocols requiring RT-PCR tests for all travelers ni-lift ng gobyerno," Mayor Felipe Remollo told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(Remember, COVID-19 cases in NCR Plus spiked 2 months ago. During that time, untimely, our province eased travel protocols and government lifted RT-PCR tests for all travelers.)

"Though I resisted it, Negros Oriental shares a common border sa Negros Occidental. Mapapansin mo rin na tumaaas ang (mga kaso ng Negros Occidental at Iloilo."

(You can observer that COVID-19 cases also increased in Negros Occidental and Iloilo.)

Dumaguete has some 495 active COVID-19 infections but around 40 percent have completed their 14-day isolation period as per health department guidelines, he said.

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The city has 5 tertiary hospitals and doctors have volunteered to administer some 10,000 COVID-19 vaccines to stem virus transmission, Remollo said.

"For the past 5 days full-force kami. Ang private doctors and nurses sama-sama sa vaccination," he said.

(We've been vaccinating full-force for the past 5 days. Private doctors and nurses worked all together in the vaccination.)

"Malalampasan natin to basta tuloy-tuloy lang sa vaccination, enforcement ng protocols."

(We will get through this as long as we continue our vaccination and enforcement of protocols.)

The mayor, who recently recovered from COVID-19 said 7 councilors have also tested positive for the coronavirus while the city lost its vice mayor to the disease.

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"Very treacherous ang COVID. Yung vice mayor namin he thought he was already well, sumali ng bisikleta, di pa pala pwede yun kasi it involves your heart. Pag nag-negative ka, rest lang talaga," Remollo said.

(COVID is very treacherous. Our vice mayor though he was already well, he joined a bicycle run and apparently it was not advisable as it involves your heart. If you test negative, just rest.)

The Philippines on Sunday tallied 7,302 new cases of the COVID-19, bringing its total to 1,315,639. Of this figure, some 59,865 were active infections while 22,788 were fatalities.

The Philippines aims to vaccinate 500,000 daily in Metro Manila and 8 other key economic hubs to achieve "population protection" by November 27, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said.

Some 1.681 million Filipinos have received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccines as 6.31 million doses have been administered in total as of June 8, government said.