KALIBO, Aklan – Two associations of physicians in Aklan warned that the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, if left unchecked, could overwhelm the province’s healthcare system.
Beginning yesterday, Aklan shifted to the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions.
According to the Aklan Medical Society (AMS) and the Philippine College of Physicians Capiz-Aklan Chapter last week, despite the restrictions put in place, COVID-19 cases were showing no signs of slowing.
If health protocols were not taken seriously by the public, hospitals in Aklan would not have enough beds for COVID-19 cases, the doctors warned.
“The steady increase of cases has placed a heavy toll on our frontliners and soon this will also exhaust our resources,” said AMS president Dr. Alistair Kashmir Dela Cruz.
Aklan has seen 7,487 confirmed cases and 165 deaths including 1,385 active cases since the outset of the pandemic, with test positivity rates exploding upwards between 45 to 55 percent for the past week.
The numbers are clear in Kalibo, Aklan with an upward trend of infections. The town – 277 infections – accounted for about 20 percent of active cases across the province.
“Until our cases are manageable or at least our vaccine roll-out is continuous, we cannot relax our guard since COVID-19 variants have already reached our province,” Dela Cruz added.
Only 24,000 of Aklan’s 615,000 people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Earlier, Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores urged everyone to wear masks and face shields while in public amid an ongoing spike in cases./PN
