Cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in this city have been decreasing in the past three to four weeks as a result of the effective interventions and systems being implemented to curb local transmission.
This was confirmed by retired Maj. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, the chief implementer of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas, who has been helping run the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for one and half months now.
“We can say that the cases are going down. Also, the mortalities have lowered. This is an indication that what the EOC is doing is really having good, positive results,” Feliciano said in a press conference with Mayor Evelio Leonardia and City Administrator Em Ang at the Bacolod Government Center on Monday afternoon.
He noted that from the third to fourth week of September, Bacolod was averaging 50 cases per day, but between the first and second week of October, cases have gone down to an average of only 25 cases a day.
On Monday night, data from the City Health Office showed 21 new cases, which is among the lowest data in recent weeks.
Bacolod has recorded 4,629 confirmed cases, of which, 3,899 or 84.23 percent have recovered. There are still 614 active cases (13.26 percent) while the total number of deaths is 116 (2.51 percent).
Feliciano credits the decreasing cases in Bacolod to the “committed, motivated and hardworking cluster heads and staff members” of the EOC Task Force led by Leonardia as chairperson and Ang as executive director.
He also acknowledged private volunteer consultants, Dr. Hector Gayares and Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputies for medical services, as well as the doctors of the City Health Office who are at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19.
Feliciano said the role of barangay leaders has also been crucial in the city’s Covid-19 response.
For his part, Leonardia said statistical indicators in Bacolod are indeed “very positive”.
“Our deaths have decreased. From 40 in August to 64 in September, as of the moment (October 19), it is 15. Meaning, the number has largely dropped,” he added.
Leonardia said that upon consultation with Feliciano, he has requested the national IATF to de-escalate the status of Bacolod from the current general community quarantine (GCQ) to modified GCQ.
From Sept. 8 to 30, Bacolod was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
On the last week of August, Leonardia sought the help of President Rodrigo Duterte to contain the increasing Covid-19 cases in the city, and Malacañang immediately deployed Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who led the special mission that contained the Covid-19 outbreak in Cebu City, along with Feliciano in coordination with the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) led by Secretary Lloyd Michael Dino.
Since then, Bacolod’s Covid-19 response has been supervised by Feliciano, and the city has also been receiving various forms of assistance from the Department of Health-Central Visayas. (PNA)
