"This is alarming for us, considering that it’s been quite long that we only had double-digit (daily) cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Now we are back to having three-digit figures."
This was stressed yesterday, September 13, by Mayor Evelio Leonardia after Bacolod City was placed under Alert Level 4 by the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas in terms of risk transmission level.
Leonardia expressed concern over the significant rise on the number of infections for the past five consecutive days.
He said that the presence of the Delta variant in the city is another reason to be alarmed as it is more contagious and deadly.
City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), said they received confirmation from the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) on Sunday, September 12, that nine more city residents have contracted the Delta variant of Covid-19.
But, Ang said, they all have recuperated and already underwent repeat testing as per the guidelines set by the DOH.
The patients were transferred to the city’s quarantine facility and once their swab tests turn out negative, they can continue their isolation at their homes and will no longer be treated as active cases, Ang said.
The close contacts of these nine individuals were also swabbed, she added.
The city government also ordered localized containment measures or surgical lockdown at the areas where the nine patients and their families reside.
As of September 13, 2021, Bacolod City already has a total of 21 delta variant cases.
Ang said the big factor in the rise of Covid-19 infections were the Delta variant cases because it could infect an entire household.
She said the measures to prevent the spread of the virus have been intensified in City through the implementation of rigid contact tracing and isolation of the Covid patients.
‘Get involved’
Last week, Leonardia meet with 20 captains whose barangays posted the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
“We want to get you involved. We want to listen to you because you are the people who know what's happening at ground zero. Your ideas will be incorporated in our policies and practices,” he said.
Also present in the virtual meeting were Ang, Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force chairman El Cid Familiaran, EOC Deputy Directors for Medical Dr. Chris Sorongon and Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan, City Health officer-in-charge Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., and EOC Contact Tracing head Dr. Rosalie Deocampo.
“At least we were able to contain, to a certain extent, the Covid-19 surge. But times are changing, repeatedly. I keep reminding the people of Bacolod that we cannot predict this Covid-19. There are times when we have very low cases,” the mayor said.
He added that "there are also times when we have high cases. I have always described this as a rollercoaster ride. Saka-panaog."
On September 9, Bacolod City recorded 129 new Covid-19 cases; September 10 - 108; September 11 – 148; September 12 - 164; and September 13 - 161.
As of yesterday, the Negros Occidental capital city already registered a total of 17,876 Covid infections.
Of the number, 1,411 are active cases, 16,054 have already recovered and 408 died.
For his part, Familiaran said the city has to double its efforts on its information and education campaign (IEC).
“IEC is inexpensive, so if possible, we should focus on this in the barangays. We don’t want that what happened in Iloilo will also happen to us here,” he said.* (MAP)