(File photo) BACOLOD CITY - The Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF) here reported 189 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases on Monday, as infections continue to rise after the holidays and amid the threat of the Omicron variant. "I think we are following the trend in Metro Manila," EOC-TF executive director Em Ang said, confirming the latest figures that came from the local molecular laboratories on Sunday night. She noted that the 189 new cases could be the highest single-day data logged by the city since the start of the pandemic. Still, many of those who tested positive are asymptomatic while the hospital capacity utilization rate in the city is relatively low at around 31 percent, she added. Ang also said only one death has so far been recorded this month. With the increasing local infections, the city government has already reopened quarantine and isolation facilities located in three school campuses. "We have no choice but to reopen because we n