EXECUTIVE Assistant Ernie Pineda, cluster head on markets and Bacolod Quick Response Team, said Thursday, October 22, that he is planning to recommend to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to conduct a surveillance testing for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for all the food delivery drivers in the city.
Pinedia said they are now planning to meet with the owners or officers-in-charge of various food deliveries to discuss the plan.
He said he will submit his recommendation to the EOC soon to finalize the plan.
"We want to ensure that our food delivery drivers are not carriers of Covid-19. They are delivering door-to-door so we should ensure that they are not infected with the virus," he added.
Pineda noted that the City Government earlier held the surveillance testing for the market vendors and out of 1,665 vendors who underwent the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCT) test for the Covid-19, 25 of them had positive results.
A day after the surveillance testing, Pineda said another 347 vendors also underwent RT-PCR test and only four of them turned positive of the virus.
"This is for the safety of everybody to prevent the spread of Covid-19," he said.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia earlier said this is at 1.5 percent overwhelming success of the surveillance testing attributed to the cooperation and commitment of the market vendors in the city's effort to fight Covid-19.
He said the minimum health protocols are in place to assure the public that the markets are safe.
"Having this data now will help us assess if the safety protocols set in place by our market supervisors such as the wearing of face shields and face masks, installation of hand washing stations and imposing physical distancing, are effective," he added.