CASES of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Iloilo City has gone down.
The metropolis recorded nine cases on November 3, according to City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (Cesu) of City Health Office (CHO).
The average daily case was also cut to half to 23 from 46 in October. The average daily case decreased to 20 this month.
A total of 118 positive patients were recorded in various quarantine facilities as of November 3.
Cesu-CHO recorded some 300 active cases by end of October.
Weekly random swab testing of all City Hall employees every Thursday will start November 5.
This highlights the city's efforts to ramp up its testing capacity with its own laboratory at the Alternative Learning System (ALS) building in Molo district to be fully operational mid-November.
The facility allows for early detection of cases to immediately care and isolate infected individuals to interrupt disease transmission.
The city has already conducted close to 40,000 swab tests.
Confirmatory testing enables to strengthen contact tracing and identify clustered cases within the community.
The City Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has turned over some 200 contact tracers to locate close contacts and hotspots and help prevent possible spread of the virus.
"Policies and preventive measures enforced are effective. The city is doing well in its fight against COVID-19 with the City Government taking every measure feasible to keep the people safe and healthy," Mayor Jerry Treñas said.
"We are aggressively aiding the business sector to return to normal operations, thus, greatly increasing economic activity allowing the constituents to regain livelihood. Survival is a matter of adaptation and it is stated with confidence that Iloilo City is indeed successfully adapting to the new normal. We will heal and recover as one," he added. (PR)