THE SURGE in the local Covid-19 cases has drastically slowed down following the stricter implementation of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine or MECQ.
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| Health protocols violators in Zamboanga City. (Zamboanga Post) |
From 585 Covid-19 cases on May 7 alone, a day before the start of the MECQ, Zamboanga registered only 100 new infections on May 9 with less then 2,000 active coronavirus cases.
Chief Covid-19 frontliner Mayor Beng Climaco, citing reports from Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite, head of the City Health Office, said community transmission remains to be the main cause of the high incidence of coronavirus infection that targets the respiratory system.
She said the following barangays have the most number of Covid-19 cases – Calarian, Tetuan, Santa Maria, Tumaga, San Roque, Guiwan, Putik, Talon-Talon, Pasonanca, Canelar, Tugbungan, San Jose Gusu, San Jose Cawa-Cawa, Baliwasan, Sinunuc, Mercedes, Divisoria, Ayala, Cabatangan and Santa Catalina.
Climaco, chief of the local Covid-19 task force, has been reminding the public many times over to strictly follow the health protocols and the quarantine guidelines and explained to residents the importance of mandatory use of face shields and face masks, and physical distancing in public places.
But many residents are hard-headed and complacent and even ignored warnings by doctors and health experts on the dangers posed by Covid-19 to the community.
The mayor said the national government may place Zamboanga under a stricter quarantine measure unless residents follow health protocols religiously. She said if the Covid-19 situation becomes uncontrollable due to the continued violations of the health protocols and complacency of residents, the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) could impose severe measures just as it did last year at the start of the pandemic.
“This is the reason why the City Government is intensifying enforcement of preventive measures such as wearing of face masks and face shields by residents, practicing hand hygiene and physical distancing, to include restricting mobility of people and even temporary closure of beaches and resorts to curb transmission of Covid-19,” Climaco said.
“Otherwise, if the (Covid-19) cases become
unmanageable then the national government might declare ECQ and we do not want
to be under ECQ because of its effects on the livelihood of people,” she added,
referring to the strictest Enhanced Community Quarantine status.
The local health situation quickly changed after the IATF-MEID relaxed its travel protocols across the country and allowed people to go from one place to another without medical certificates and RT-PCR tests.
Private and government hospitals here have put up additional Covid-19 wards to address the growing number of patients with the deadly respiratory disease, but it was not even enough. And Climaco ordered the construction of at least 1,000-bed isolation facilities so as not to overwhelm the hospitals.
Climaco stressed that in confronting the pandemic, the government has to balance medical science, facts and opportunity for people to be healed. She reiterated that people have to fully cooperate and support the government in the fight against Covid-19 to prevent further increase in the number of infections here.
She said the local government is also making
available the needed resources to assist people who are affected by temporary
granular lockdowns in the barangays should Covid-19 cases spread rapidly. (Zamboanga
Post)
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