Sulu now has 6 suspected Covid deaths

SULU - The provincial government has reported Thursday a total of 6 suspected deaths in recent weeks amid the strict general home quarantine to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19.

The Sulu Task Forces Covid-19, headed by Governor Sakur Tan, said 2 more patients suspected of having the deadly virus are now in quarantine. He appealed anew to residents to stay at home and practise social distancing and maintain cleanliness to minimize risk of infection.

“Please follow our quarantine guidelines and let us help each other fight the spread of this Covid-19 disease. We urge to public to continue taking preventive measures to stay safe,” he said.

The provincial government continues to roll out relief assistance to families in all 19 municipalities in an effort to help local chief executives feed the poor while assisting social workers in the distribution of emergency cash subsidy to all those affected by the pandemic.

Tan has extended the general home quarantine until end of the month and this could prolong further if the spread of the virus does not slow down or stop. He said the Sulu State College Hostel which has been identified as one of the quarantine facilities in the capital town of Jolo, is also ready to accept probable Covid-19 patients following the completion of 12 isolation rooms.

He previously appealed to the regional government and the national health authorities for medical support, but received little. The regional government only sent 2,500 face masks and bottles of alcohol, although it claimed to have released P155 million to all 5 provinces under it to support efforts to combat the virus. The regional has nearly 4 million population.

Tan said the provincial and municipal hospitals still lack medical equipment to support the campaign in combatting the spread of Covid-19. He said the provincial government has been asking medical support from the regional government and national agencies, but received nothing.

“Because of the absence of testing kits, the incapacity of our hospitals, lack of ventilators and shortage of sufficient medical personnel to attend to a sudden surge of Covid, our only viable course of action is prevention through a province-wide general community quarantine. We cannot afford to take any chances of putting at risk the lives of our people as a consequence of relaxing our quarantine procedures,” he said.

“Prevention is the only available option at our disposal at the moment, considering that we are not equipped medically and still denied of even the most basic of testing kits and other related equipment, either from the regional government or national agencies. For reasons aforementioned, it would be grossly unfair if our local initiatives would be measured by the same yardstick used in other better equipped provinces and regions in the country,” he added.

Tan said being remotely located and poorly equipped, “we took the cudgels of facing this plague on our own through gutsy determination and optimizing our meager resources.”

“May we, as your fellow Filipinos, further entreat our regional and national government to focus your attention and provide for our needs for testing kits, ventilators and other essential resources as equally as you do the other provinces. In spite of our sparse resources, we are one with our country in helping and contributing in whatever way we can in fighting and defeating Covid-19,” he said. (Zamboanga Post) 

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