Governor Arthur Yap has reassured Boholanos that the provincial government is on top of the efforts in protecting the island province from the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) following President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a Code Red, Sublevel 1.
As part of heightened effort to prevent the entry of the virus, Yap said he asked mayors to reconsider travel plans to Manila in light of the confirmation of the first case of “localized transmission” of the disease in the country.
He also ordered the provincial government to facilitate the mobilization of resources and ease processes, most especially in the procurement of critical equipment and supplies related to monitoring and quarantine measures.
“I have ordered the provincial administrator to get in touch with the Provincial Health Office, officials of the Bohol Panglao International Airport and PPA (Philippine Port Authority) officials to enforce very strictly, a mandatory thermometer scan of all arrivals to Bohol, by sea or air, and to submit their mandatory health declaration cards for monitoring,” he said.
He said that he received information from Interior Secretary Eduardo Año that attendance in the League of Municipalities of the Philippines meeting scheduled this week will no longer be mandatory for mayors in the light of the new update from the Department of Health (DOH) on additional confirmed cases of Covid-19.
“I am, therefore, asking mayors to reconsider their plans to travel to Manila and instead stay at their posts and prepare their towns to meet the challenges that lie ahead due to the President’s red alert declaration,” he added.
Yap said Año told him to prepare and join the officers of the Governor’s League to meet concerned Cabinet officials this Monday to coordinate efforts on the Covid-19.
DOH disseminated infographics explaining that Code Red alert is raised when the situation reaches alert level 4 where there is “at least one documented case of community transmission that may or may not be traced from imported case(s)”, there is “sustained human-to-human transmission”, and “cases may be traced beyond the fourth generation from index case.”
Code Red signals “expansion of inter-agency membership to include other instrumentalities of the government, selective contact tracing, testing and management to prioritize vulnerable and high-risk groups, monitoring of disease trends, strict enforcement of non-pharmaceutical interventions, implementation of mitigation guidelines, ensuring back-up systems to address surge capacity, sustained level of public awareness, to minimize fear, reduce anxiety and unrest, and sustained inter-agency, multi-level, whole-of-society coordination and response.” (PNA)
