PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte lauded the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav) for the creation of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Manual for Covid-19 Response at the city and municipal level.
In a message, he congratulated OPAV for publishing the manual that is “designed to help the local implementers of our COVID-19 response in the Visayas, (and) will truly standardize our procedures in combatting this disease.”
EOC was established in Cebu when the surge of cases occurred in 2020. In June 2020, Cebu was dubbed as the epicenter for Covid-19 since it had the greatest number of cases in the entire country at the time.
According to Opav, the EOC is considered as one of Cebu’s best practices in Covid-19 response at the community level.
“I am pleased that our local EOCs will serve as the integrated hub for contact tracing, data gathering and analysis, vaccination roll-outs, and the dissemination of best practices among local government units (LGUs),” he said.
He told frontliners in the Visayas to “continue to be more responsive to the needs of the general public, especially the sick, as we continue to overcome and defeat this pandemic.”
“Together, let us work hand in hand in implementing and observing health protocols for the safety and well-being of all Filipinos,” he said.
What you need to know about the EOC Manual
• It was crafted by IATF-Visayas chief implementor, retired Maj. Gen. Mel Feliciano and his wife, Mia Feliciano.
• The manual is designed for LGUs and public health offices from the provincial level down to the barangay.
• It helps local government units establish an “integrated, centralized, harmonized, synchronized, coordinated, collaborative, and data-driven approach” in Covid response.
• Aside from capacitating the LGUs with knowledge, skills, and abilities, it helps cities and municipalities address challenges by establishing an EOC that is more responsive in the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
• It will help equip LGUs with the appropriate systems and processes for a “sustainable swift response” against COVID-19.
• It calls for the creation of dedicated clusters that result in “data-driven, strategic, effective, and efficient virus containment and protection” in the community.