ZAMBOANGA’S ACTIVE Covid-19 cases are heading south and continues to go down as the local government is slowly reopening up the economy as it battles the spread of the deadly respiratory virus.
While the number of Covid-19 has drastically gone down since the past months, Mayor Beng Climaco, who chairs the local force in battling the disease, said the public must not be complacent and strictly follow the health protocols and community quarantine guidelines to prevent another surge in infections.
The emergence of a new Philippine variant of
Covid-19, and also the U.K. and South African variants in Zamboanga City
resulted in the surge in coronavirus cases here and is being handled
aggressively by Climaco in an effort to lower the tab and at the same time
vaccinate the residents.
The
Covid-19 cases here is just a few hundred compared to nearly 3,000 in May that
forced the government to declare a stricter community quarantine that lasted
almost 2 months. Zamboanga now is under General Community Quarantine
classification until end of July.
“As we are thankful that we are now under GCQ, we really need to maintain our Covid protocols to continue lowering the cases. We need to exert more effort,” she said, referring to personal health responsibilities of each resident to help fight or control the spread of the virus.
“Our death toll and the daily positive cases are not a sign for us to relax. It is a sign for us to continue to cooperate, to strengthen our safety measures, self-regulate and self-discipline. All our frontliners have dedicated and poured out their efforts to keep you safe. It’s about time that we cooperate,” Climaco further said.
The mayor assured economic stakeholders and business sector that the local government is doing its best to revive the economy. “We are supportive. We opened our economy, our venues for weddings and similar events. But, let us always remember to do the things that are essential,” Climaco said.
Last month, the Regional Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team commended Climaco for her active role in addressing the health crisis.
Manuel Luis Ochotorena, regional director of the
Office of the Civil Defense, and other members of the CODE Team cited the local
government’s Covid-19 response, especially the creation of the Inter-Agency
Compliance Team, the Barangay Sita Task Forces and Barangay Information
Officers Network which ensure compliance of health and safety protocols and
community quarantine guidelines.
Ochotorena described the local government’s
Covid-19 initiatives as “very commendable and impressive” and complied with the
PDITR strategy in fighting the spread of the deadly virus which are Prevention,
Detection, Isolation, Treatment and Reintegration.
He said the CODE, which was approved in September
last year by the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the
Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on the recommendation of
the Department of Health (DOH) , aims to demonstrates active case finding
strategies to prevent and eliminate clusters of community transmission of the
virus and to provide guidance and recommendations to strengthen the
implementing measures and mechanisms in fighting against the impact of pandemic
while maintaining the balance between health and economy.
CODE is headed by the National Task Force on
Covid-19.
Good Job
Also in March before the spike in Covid-19 cases
here, DOH Assistant Secretary Romeo Ong congratulated Climaco and the
local government for keeping the number of active Covid cases below 100.
Zamboanga’s lowest active Covid-19 cases then were only about three dozen.
“I congratulate the City (Government of Zamboanga)
for keeping the active cases to below 100, we should not keep our guards down,
especially on our borders,” he said.
Ong also urged residents to follow the strict
health protocols, especially after Covid cases spiked in other parts of the
country, especially in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces.
“This pandemic proves again this is not only a
national, but a global challenge. The virus recognizes no national boundaries,
no difference in political system, in culture, in religion whatsoever. It
attacks all of us the same way. So there is an even greater need for closer and
more effective cooperation, it has to be a whole of government and whole of
society approach,” he said.
“My message is to always keep the minimum health
standards, keep masks and face shields on, social distance and washing of
hands. No matter whether it is the variant or not, it is the same virus and the
transmission is the same. For our health care workers, get vaccinated. We are
about to go to the next batch of vaccines,” Ong added.
Climaco said the “raging battle” to stop, if not
reduce the spread of the deadly respiratory virus and other Covid variants, is
not only the work of government alone, but of everyone as everybody is
vulnerable to the dreaded disease.
She again reminded residents to always use face
mask and face shield in public places, and sanitize or wash hands with soap and
water frequently, and comply with the community quarantine guidelines. “I am
enjoining the public to please cooperate with and help government in the
implementation of these health protocols,” she said.
City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite also
echoed the same appeals. “While we have the vaccines, this is no time to relax
and we still have to practice proper wearing of face mask and face shield,
practice hand hygiene and observe physical distancing. Until we get 70% of our
population vaccinated, we will not be really protected from infection and
surges,” she said.
Climaco has repeatedly ordered the strict
enforcement of health protocols at the borders and in different barangays to
prevent the spread of Covid-19. She emphasized anew the need for mandatory
RT-PCR testing for all travellers entering Zamboanga City.
“The strict enforcement of the regulations and
protocols is being done to ensure that Covid-19 will not thrive in the city.
All persons should be subject to compliance with the IATF-MEID and local
government health protocols for everyone’s safety and protection. (Claudine
Uniana, Zamboanga Post)
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