ILOILO City – This city’s daily average coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases dropped to 16 in the first few days of November from 23 late last month.
Jeck Conlu, City COVID Team spokesperson, attributed the decline to the continuing efforts and policies of the city government to stop the disease from spreading.
He cited the mass testing, deployment of compliance officers to make sure people comply with the minimum health standards, the liquor ban, and localized lockdown, among others.
Conlu also noted the regular coordination between barangay officials and the COVID team.
“Aktibo ang aton mga barangay officials, naga-suggest sila sa aton COVID Team kon ano pa gid ang nakita nila sa ila barangay nga pwede ma-implement,” said Conlu.
Also, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in this city hired some 200 contact tracers to locate close contacts, hotspots and help prevent the possible spread of the virus.
“Policies and preventive measures enforced are effective. The city is doing well in its fight against COVID-19 with the city government taking every measure feasible to keep the people safe and healthy,” Mayor Jerry Treñas stressed.
Meantime, the weekly random swabbing of all Iloilo City Hall employees every Thursday started yesterday, Nov. 5.
This highlights the city’s efforts to ramp up its testing capacity with its own laboratory at the Alternative Learning System Building in Molo district to be fully operational by mid-November.
The facility allows for early detection of cases to immediately care and isolate infected individuals.
“We are aggressively aiding the business sector to return to normal operations, thus, greatly increasing economic activity, allowing our constituents to regain livelihood. Survival is a matter of adaptation and it is stated with confidence that Iloilo City is indeed successfully adapting to the new normal. We will heal and recover as one,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, focal person of the City Health Office (CHO) for COVID-19, noted that there was an increase in cases in city districts based on the comparative data from September to October.
In Molo district, the cases surged from 168 in September to 304 in October.
In Jaro district, from 334 in September it also increased to 424 in October.
There was also a surge of cases in Mandurriao from 119 in September to 264 in October while in Arevalo, from 99 September, to 110 in October.
In Lapuz, from 136 in September, the cases increased to 139 while in La Paz, from 164 it increased to 184.
There was a decrease in cases in the City Proper – from 194 last September to 136 in October.
Currently, a total of 118 positive patients were recorded in various quarantine facilities of the city as of Nov. 3.
CHO’s City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit recorded some 300 active cases by end of October.
The metro was able to conduct close to 40,000 swab tests.
Confirmatory testing enables to strengthen contact tracing and identify clustered cases within the community. (With Iloilo City PIO/PN)
