VACCINATION UPDATES. Palace spokesperson, Sec. Harry Roque, is flanked by Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and his wife, Janice, the mayor of Pamplona, during a press briefing in the town on Thursday (Feb. 25, 2021). Roque visited the province to update the people on the government's Covid-19 vaccination rollout. (Screengrab from RTVM)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on Thursday reassured Palace spokesperson, Sec. Harry Roque, that the provincial government has confidence in the choice of vaccines procured by the country for its anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination campaign.
Roque was in Negros Oriental for a press briefing at Café Alicia in Pamplona town to update the people on the national government’s vaccination rollout.
“You know that as governor of Negros Oriental I am pretty confident that yung bakuna na kinukuha ng national government through DOH, yun ang aasahan namin na ituturok dito (the type of vaccine that the national government will procure through the Department of Health will be the same that will be used here),” Degamo said.
Roque said 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines donated by the Chinese government will arrive on Feb. 28.
Degamo announced earlier that the provincial government would be allocating PHP40 million for vaccine procurement.
He also briefed Roque on the current Covid-19 situation in the province, saying that while it enjoyed at least four months of having zero cases last year, the return of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and other residents caused the spike in infections.
“We know that would happen but we could not also prevent these LSIs, the returning overseas Filipinos, and overseas Filipino workers, from returning to our province,” he said in mixed Cebuano dialect and English.
As of Feb. 24, the province has a total of 1,667 recorded confirmed cases of Covid-19, he said.
Some 21 local government units (LGUs) have active cases, except for Mabinay, Manjuyod, Ayungon, and Vallehermoso.
Of the 123 active infections, Dumaguete City, the provincial capital, has the highest number at 41.
Recoveries have reached 1,491, with 53 mortalities as of the latest data.
Degamo also informed Roque of the province’s programs in response to Covid-19, such as the construction of a building to be used as isolation facility, and a molecular diagnostic laboratory to run reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests.
Roque reassured the people of Negros Oriental of the government’s continuity of the priority projects under the campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte's (PRRD) National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) through whole-of-nation-approach.
“Seryoso po ang ating Pangulo na makamit ang kapayapaan sa pamamaraan ng pagbigay ng tulong sa mga lugar na naghihirap na alam naman po niya ay isang dahilan sa pagkakaroon ng rebelyon (our President is serious in achieving peace by providing assistance to areas stricken with poverty, which he knows is one reason for rebellion),” he said.
Roque said projects under the NTF ELCAC will be realized in areas with low number of Covid-19 cases. (PNA)
