FIGHTING COVID-19. The map of Eastern Visayas showing the region's six provinces. The Department of Health on Tueday (June 15, 2021) asked local authorities in the region to enforce more tightened movement restrictions to curb the surge of new coronavirus infections. (Google image)
TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 8 has called on local government units (LGUs) with high cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to implement stricter protocols after the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has not approved the proposal to escalate the community quarantine status in Eastern Visayas.
DOH Eastern Visayas information officer Jelyn Lopez-Malibago said in a phone interview Tuesday that it is up to local authorities to enforce more tightened movement restrictions to curb the surge of new infections.
“The DOH recommends local governments with a spike of cases to implement stricter protocols or granular lockdowns and other proactive measures and restrictions to slow down the surge of cases in their areas,” Malibago said.
In a resolution approved on June 9, the regional IATF recommended to its national counterpart to place the region from modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) to GCQ, a higher classification in the bid to contain the surge and facilitate the implementation of necessary measures by local government units and regional line agencies.
However, based on the new quarantine classifications announced on Monday during President Rodrigo Duterte's weekly public address on the Covid-19 pandemic, the region was placed under MGCQ.
The regional task force pushed for escalated community quarantine status due to rising new infections in the past 10 days.
On Tuesday, the Eastern Visayas region recorded 243 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 41 from Tacloban City, 104 from Leyte, 25 from Ormoc City, 11 from Southern Leyte, 22 from Eastern Samar, 25 from Samar, and 15 from Biliran province.
The 243 new cases were part of the 889 laboratory samples tested in three Covid-19 testing laboratories in the region. The number of new cases represents 27.33 percent of the total samples examined.
“The positivity rate is still high and is very much alarming. However, let us note that this number signifies that contact tracing and testing activities in the region are efficient, active, and functional since we are able to catch, identify and detect infected people resulting in higher chances of stopping the transmission. the more people tracked and tested, the sooner we get to stop the transmission,” Malibago added.
The DOH also recorded two new Covid-19 deaths or one each in Javier, Leyte, and Tacloban City.
With the new infections, the region’s total cases climbed to 24,725, including 22,034 recoveries, and 349 deaths. There are still 2,342 active cases in six provinces and seven cities in the region.
The DOH said new cases since June 6 have been increasing. The highest was recorded on June 10 with 572 cases followed by June 11 with 412 and June 9 with 361.
Since June 6, new daily infections range from 116 to 572. (PNA)
