VACCINATION. The Iloilo City government continues to campaign for the eligible population to submit to vaccination. A drive-through vaccination is being proposed to limit the contact between vaccinators and vaccinees. (File photo courtesy of Arnold Almacen/City Mayor’s Office)
ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of City Health Office (CESU-CHO) announced on Wednesday 16 new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
A report released by the CESU-CHO said the patients were informed of the results received from the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) on Tuesday.
“The Omicron cases are being assessed. Two have not yet recovered so they were referred to infectious disease specialists. The recovered 14 will be swabbed again; if negative, there will be no more quarantine. Others were advised by their personal doctors for re-swab and quarantine pending results,” CESU head Dr. Marigold Calsas said.
The patients are currently on home quarantine as half of the cases were asymptomatic while others have symptoms such as cough, fatigue, fever, runny nose, and sneezing.
Also, 13 of them were vaccinated while three were not inoculated.
Of the 16 cases, six are from La Paz district; five from Mandurriao; three from Jaro; and one each from Arevalo and Molo.
Nine of them, Calsas said, had histories of travel to Boracay during the holidays.
With the Omicron cases, the local government here has again urged the public to avail of the vaccination and always observe minimum public health standards.
The city government is also considering opening a drive-through vaccination in one of the malls.
“We came up with this plan to lessen the contact between the vaccinators and vaccinees. Once it is in place, we will announce the site for those who are interested,” Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said in the city government’s official Facebook account.
As of January 24, the city has administered two doses to 457, 273 individuals or 136.43 percent of the 335,172 national target and 1,970 pediatrics with comorbidities based on the report of the Western Visayas Regional Vaccination Operations Center.
The city government, meanwhile, has a target of 450,000 population.
The national target was exceeded as the vaccination program was opened to both residents and non-residents of the city. (PNA)
