ILOILO City – Should cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to spike, the city government may ask the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for a stricter general community quarantine (GCQ).
“Ginalantaw ‘ta ang aton (COVID) situation all the time,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
A big chunk of confirmed COVID-19 cases in this city were local transmission (the source of infection is within the locality).
From April 1 to 9, the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) logged 112 positive cases – 81 were local while the remaining were new cases.
On April 10, a total of 14 new cases were recorded, 11 of which were local cases.
The sources of the other three cases, meanwhile, were difficult to ascertain.
“The virus is present in the community. We are requesting everyone to be vigilant to avoid being infected,” said Treñas.
The figure recorded from April 1 to 9 was 16.26 percent higher than the 96 cases logged in March on the same period.
To check if there are already new variants of the COVID-19 virus in this city, Treñas said the Uswag Molecular Laboratory in Molo district already sent specimens to the Philippine Genome Center.
With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the city mayor, in an executive order, strongly encouraged private offices as well as government agencies and instrumentalities to adopt work arrangements that entail no more than 30 percent of employees working on-site, work-from-home and other flexible work arrangements.
All department heads of the Iloilo City government are enjoined to adopt the said working arrangements.
While all construction projects are allowed to proceed, these are subject to strict compliance with safety guidelines issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Operations of entertainment venues such as karaoke bars, clubs, concert halls, and theaters, on the other hand, are prohibited./PN
