MAYOR Evelio Leonardia has appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to de-escalate the quarantine status in Bacolod City from general community quarantine (GCQ) to modified GCQ in November.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of Bacolod City IATF, said Tuesday, October 27, that Mayor Leonardia already sent its letter to the IATF to de-escalate the city's quarantine status from GCQ to MGCQ in November.
This came after President Rodrigo Duterte announced Tuesday that Bacolod was among the places in the country that will remain under GCQ until the end of November.
Aside from Bacolod, Iloilo City, Metro Manila, Tacloban City, Iligan City, and the province of Lanao del Sure will also remain under GCQ status.
Familiaran said the mayor earlier appealed to IATF to de-escalate its quarantine status, but the President already announced that Bacolod was among the places to remain under GCQ until the end of November, so the mayor sent its appeal again to the IATF Tuesday.
He said the new quarantine classifications are also subject to appeal by the local government units.
"So let's wait for the decision of the National IATF," he added.
Familiaran noted that the city's coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases already dropped and it is now ready to be placed under MGCQ.
The vice mayor said that before the arrival of IATF-Visayas chief implementer Mel Feliciano in Bacolod, the city had more than 1,000 active cases of Covid-19, but now, the city has about 300 active cases of Covid-19.
He said Bacolod City also recorded only two new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, October 27, the lowest since July 16.
As of October 27, Bacolod City has a total of 4,751 Covid-19 cases. Of the number, 4,301 patients have recovered and 122 have died.