BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia lauded residents here for showing unity during the lockdown enforced in the last four Sundays to suppress the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread.
“It’s overwhelming. It’s to the credit of the people of Bacolod. It shows their cooperation and discipline,” said Leonardia on Monday.
“The unity we have to pull off during lockdown Sundays in our city has been affirmed and validated for the fourth time when we all stayed home and emptied our public spaces. At the very least with this measure, we can say that the global foe COVID-19 stands still for 24 hours. One cannot underestimate the importance of that,” he added.
A collective bid to stop for at least 24 hours the spread of the virus is very important for Bacolod – biggest city in Western Visayas with a population of almost 614,000.
So far, Bacolod has 11 positive cases of COVID-19, including three deaths.
According to Leonardia, population density is a factor for the transmission of COVID-19, citing a survey from the League of Cities of the Philippines showing that 70 to 80 percent of the positive cases are reported in the cities.
Since Bacolod is a big city, there is a greater chance of transmission when people gather, and implementing a lockdown is a “big thing” in the battle against the virus, he said.
“This means we have it in us to unite to ultimately defeat this virus. We move forward confident that we do so with arms locked to each other and hearts united towards a safe and healthy Bacolod, Leonardia added”.
Bacolod, which is set to end its enhanced community quarantine on May 15, is seeking the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases to shift to general community quarantine.(With a report from PNA/PN)
