SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – This city will be placed under the most restrictive enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from October 1 to 14 to curb the continued surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
The city Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) against Covid-19 will impose on Friday the new quarantine status from the current general community quarantine upon the approval of the provincial government of La Union and the Regional IATF.
“May Delta variant case na at maraming front-liners na ang na-Covid. Puno na ang hospitals at marami na lumalabas na wala na pakialam sa virus. Need mabawasan numbers ng nagkaka-Covid. (There is now the presence of the Delta variant case here and many of our front-liners were infected with Covid-19. Our hospitals are full, and many already do not care about the virus. We need to lessen the number of Covid-19 cases),” City Health Office (CHO) medical officer Dr. Joseph Alves said in a phone interview Monday.
Alves said the utilization rate of hospitals and isolation facilities is at 100 percent, while there are over 100 front-liners infected with Covid-19.
“We will be opening four more new isolation facilities soon,” he added.
The city’s comprehensive contingency plan for the Covid-19 Delta variant has been activated and all key members of the city Covid-19 Technical Working Group have been instructed to fast-track the arrangement and preparation of all logistical requirements for the heightened lockdown restriction, including the provision of relief goods and quarantine pass, as well as coordination with barangays and affected establishments and offices, the city government stated.
Mayor Hermenegildo Gualberto confirmed on September 25 the first case of Delta variant in the city based on the result of the genome sequencing analysis of the Philippine Genome Center of the University of the Philippines.
However, the patient has already recovered and the listed close contacts were already swabbed. (PNA)
