Bacolod remains under MGCQ

BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia warned Bacolodnons to refrain from spreading fake news related to community quarantines as these cause panic among people.

Leonardia made the clarification after some netizens posted on social media last week that Bacolod City was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

"I just want to clarify that these are malicious and fake news. I appeal to our people that we are now in pandemic so please stop spreading fake news," Leonardia said.

The mayor in a statement said Department of the Interior Local Government (DILG)-Bacolod head Ma. Joy Marideth Madayag informed them that the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has approved that Bacolod City is still classified under MGCQ from April 1 to 30.

He said from December 2020 until April 1 to 30, 2021, Bacolod City is under MGCQ.

"But of course, whether we will retain that or not, will depend on us because the classification of the IATF will depend on our actual situation. So if we want to stay under MGCQ, we should help each other so that our Covid cases in the city will not increase," he added.

The mayor said the only way to do it is to continue exercising strictly the health protocols.

Leonardia noted that on March 26, Bacolod City recorded 24 new Covid-19 cases, 20 new Covid-19 cases on March 25 and just a week ago, it reached 25 cases.

"The last time that we had these kinds of numbers was way back November 21, 2020 when we recorded 28 Covid-19 cases," Leonardia said.

He said from December 2020 to February 2021, Bacolod recorded a single-digit number of Covid cases.

"With our figures these days, these are warning signs or warning shots that we cannot afford to ignore. We have to put this into our minds that we have threats," he added.

Leonardia also urged the public to avoid social gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus.

The mayor also appealed to Bacolodnons to register for the Covid-19 vaccination program.

Leonardia said the vaccination already started with medical frontliners.

"We all want to get out of this pandemic, we want to go back to a normal situation but for now, the vaccine is our way of doing this. Only the vaccine can save us from this pandemic," he said.