ILOILO – Citing the rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the 2nd District, Cong. Michael Gorriceta sought assistance from the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 6.
“Basing on the report of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) from Aug. 8, 2021 to Aug. 21, 2021, there is a steady rise in cases,” Gorriceta said in a letter addressed to Director Adriano Suba-an of DOH-6.
The 2nd District is comprised of Alimodian, Leganes, Leon, New Lucena, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, and Zarraga towns.
“Some municipalities have recorded a threshold of over 100 cases in two weeks, specifically in the municipalities of Pavia (195), San Miguel (109) and Santa Barbara (191),” the congressman pointed out.
Based on the PHO report (from Aug. 19 to Aug. 23), various variants of the virus causing COVID-19 have also been detected in the district. These were in the following towns:
* Alimodian – one Alpha, one Beta and one Delta
* Leganes – one Alpha, two Beta and one Delta
* Leon – one Alpha and two Beta
* New Lucena – two Alpha and three Beta
* Pavia – one Alpha, five Beta, two P3 and one Delta
* San Miguel – one Delta
* Santa Barbara – one Alpha, seven Beta, one P3, and four Delta
* Zarraga – one Alpha, two Beta and two Delta
“There is a significant struggle in containing the cases due to the lack of testing kits, medical supplies, manpower, difficulty in imposing minimum public health standards and slow vaccine rollout,” said Gorrriceta.
The congressman also appealed for:
* deployment of the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force and/or DOH representatives to oversee and establish a unified response
* augmentation of health personnel for vaccination, contact tracing, assessment and emergency response
* additional testing kits and access for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing
* installation of swabbing/testing booths in the Rural Health Unit and nearby accessible areas
* steady stocks of medical supplies, medicines, vitamins and personal protective equipment (PPEs)
* consistent delivery of additional vaccines to speed up the vaccination drive
“We are hopeful that our request will be realized to further improve our pandemic response,” said Gorriceta.
He advised the public to continue following the minimum public health protocols to curb the spread of COVID-19.
As of Sept. 4, here’s the breakdown of the eight towns with their total confirmed coronavirus cases: Pavia – 1,554, Santa Barbara – 1,543, Leganes – 665, Alimodian – 694, Leon – 616, San Miguel – 485, Zarraga – 446, and New Lucena – 328./PN
