The provincial government of Pangasinan is appealing to the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to place the province under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) starting November.
In his letter to the IATF-EID through IATF Ilocos Region chairman Julie Daquiaog on Wednesday, Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino III said the reversion from general community quarantine with heightened restrictions to MGCQ considers the improving coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation of Pangasinan.
Pangasinan requested the national government to place the province, including Dagupan City, under GCQ with heightened restrictions from September 1 to 15 due to the surge of Covid-19 cases.
“(But) the seven-day daily average from October 15 to 21 has gone down to 128 new cases per day,” he said.
Espino, in a video message Tuesday night, said the province continues to record a decreasing number of Covid-19 active cases, from 4,844 on September 12 to only 1,148 active cases as of October 23.
He said from the all-time single-day 879 new confirmed cases on September 13, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) recorded only 81 new confirmed cases on October 23.
“Ang magandang development na ito ay bunga ng pagtutulungan (natin) sa labang ito (This good development was a result of our cooperation in this fight),” he said, adding the importance of getting vaccinated against the Covid-19.
Espino said as of October 25, over 969,000 Pangasinenses have been inoculated, representing 49 percent of the eligible population of the province.
Of the total number, 22 percent have been fully vaccinated while 27 percent received their first dose.
“Bilang tugon sa kahilingan, para sa dagdag na bakuna, nagbigay ng katiyakan ang national government sa pamamagitan ng Department of Health (DOH) na bibigyan ang lalawigan ng sapat na suplay ng bakuna (In response to the request for additional doses of vaccine, the national government, through the DOH, assured to give the province enough supply of the vaccine),” he added.
Starting November, Espino said the provincial government, in partnership with the DOH, will ramp up its vaccination roll out to achieve the 70-percent population protection of the province by the end of this year.
He added the provincial government is counting on Pangasinenses to constantly abide by the health and safety protocols to prevent further transmission of the dreaded virus.
Source: Philippines News Agency