The city government has formed the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Task Force to strengthen efforts in synchronizing and harmonizing its data gathering and other activities to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The creation of the EOC was recommended by retired Maj. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, deputy implementer of the Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas, who has been working closely with the city officials since the last week of August.

“Synchronization and harmonization will be difficult without a centralized EOC. If all activities are synchronized, all undertakings will be successful,” Feliciano said in a statement Monday.

The EOC, which is based at the MassKara Hall of the Bacolod City Government Center, operates 24/7.

As provided in EO 59 issued by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the task force, headed by the mayor himself, is tasked to closely supervise and monitor the overall operations and actions of the EOC.

Among the tasks include defining clear objectives and plans and providing precise insights towards Covid-19 interventions as well as to establish an advisory group to provide policy and guidance to the EOC and ensure the crafting of its terms of reference.

Leonardia named Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran as assistant task force head and City Administrator Em Ang as executive director.

Feliciano is part of the team led by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), who came to Bacolod to augment the city government’s response against Covid-19 after Leonardia sent an urgent letter-appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte for assistance.

In Bacolod, the team is implementing the model of Cebu City, which was once dubbed as the epicenter of Covid-19, but was able to lower down its number of Covid-19 cases after the interventions introduced by Cimatu’s team.

During his second visit to Bacolod on Sept. 1, Cimatu said barangay chairpersons have an important role in curbing Covid-19 in the city.

The primary step towards effectively containing the spread of Covid-19 is to “locate the virus” and barangays with high number of cases should be prioritized, he said.

As of Sunday night, Bacolod has 1,866 confirmed cases, including 27 deaths. It has 1,146 active cases and 693 recoveries. (PNA)