BACOLOD City – In the run-up to Valentine’s Day, the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) here will be monitoring motels and lodging houses.
These establishments should strictly comply with health safety protocols set by the city government to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Starting next week, BPLO personnel will give businesses a checklist of minimum health protocols such as disinfection of rooms after visitors’ checkout, changing of bed sheets and towels between every guest, provision of hand sanitizers or alcohol, among others.
BPLO’s inspection, said Sorongon, will also ensure that these establishments follow City Ordinance No. 941, or the Bacolod City COVID-19 Contact Tracing (BaC-Trac) system.
The BaC-Trac system is a web-based and mobile-based application developed for expeditious contact tracing of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive patients in the city and, consequently, allows the EOC Task Force to locate people suspected of having contact with the positive cases.
Sorongon said non-compliant establishments would be fined for P500 or possibly closed.
The EOC is keeping a tight watch on the city’s COVID-19 metrics following a surge in infections at a call center in Barangay Tangub.
City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the EOC Task Force, said 41 cases were detected at Transcom following a recent surveillance test conducted on its 594 employees.
Transcom’s building was closed for 24 hours for decontamination.
Since recording started in March last year, Bacolod had a total of 5,772 coronavirus infections.
Of these, 5,480 already recovered and 184 died./PN
