The city government here rallied barangay captains, whose villages have high cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), to harmonize their responses following a recent surge in local infections.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who chairs the Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF), said in a statement on Tuesday that he expressed concern over the three-digit figure increase in cases in the past days during an online meeting with 20 village chiefs.
“We want to get you involved. We want to listen to you because you are the people who know what’s happening at ground zero. Your ideas will be incorporated in our policies and practices,” Leonardia told the barangay captains led by Liga ng mga Barangay president Lady Gles Gonzales-Pallen.
Leonardia said it was the first time he met with the village chiefs since the Covid-19 cases in Bacolod had already slowed down in the past two months.
The mayor discussed the DOH-recommended various action points for barangays such as granular lockdowns, active case finding and contact tracing, and rapid antigen testing for areas with Delta variant.
On Monday, Bacolod logged 161 new cases, including 159 local transmissions and two locally-stranded individuals, bringing its total active cases to 1,411, figures of the Department of Health-Western Visayas showed.
Last week, the city’s Sept. 9 data showed 129 new cases; Sept. 10 – 108 cases; and Sept. 11 – 148 cases.
Also, EOC-TF data showed that 35 deaths were recorded since the start of the month.
“This is alarming for us, considering that it’s been quite long that we only had double-digit cases. Now we are back to having three-digit figures,” the mayor said.
Leonardia added that the presence of the Delta variant in Bacolod is another reason to be alarmed since this variant is “more contagious and even more deadly.”
As of Sept. 9, Bacolod has administered 253,666 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, of which 143,011 were first doses, while 110,655 were second doses.
“At least we were able to contain, to a certain extent, the Covid-19 surge. Repeatedly, I keep reminding the people of Bacolod that we cannot predict this Covid-19. There are times when we have very low cases. There are also times when we have high cases. I have always described this as a ‘rollercoaster’ ride,” the mayor said.
Source: Philippines News Agency