
ILOILO City – The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) on Friday said it will help the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo manage their rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases by bringing Cebu province’s effective response measures to the viral illness.
OPAV Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales announced they are planning to collate all the best practices adopted by the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu in their fight against the viral illness and put them into a manual or playbook.
In a virtual talk show, officials from Cebu’s major tri-cities shared what they have done to bring down the number of COVID-19 cases in their respective areas.
Lawyer Mary Rose Lubino, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, attributed the city’s progress in containing the virus to the creation of cluster clinics, barangay isolation centers and quarantine facilities, as well as augmentation of contact tracing teams and widespread testing.
“In Cebu City, our biggest game-changer is our ramped up contact tracing teams, which are now at 130 teams, to trace all possible first-level contacts,” Lubino said.
As the city now gradually reopens its economy, she said vigilance is maintained, especially that there is already increased mobility of people.
Lawyer August Lizer Malate, head of Mandaue’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said the establishment of an EOC has helped the city to focus its efforts in addressing COVID-related concerns.
The city’s EOC is composed of different teams with different functions such as the contact tracing team, testing, and diagnostic team, patient management team, logistics and management of the dead team, and the data management team.
A widespread information drive has also become a key factor in Lapu-Lapu City’s virus response.
Lapu-Lapu has also implemented various legislations to impose the strict implementation of quarantine protocols, particularly the mandatory wearing of face masks.
Gonzales said COVID-19 cases in the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo were on an uptrend following the repatriation of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs). Based on the data from the Department of Health in Western Visayas as of Aug. 13, Region 6 has a total of 1,320 active cases, majority of which are LSIs, ROFs and authorized persons outside of residence. (With a report from PNA/PN)