ILOILO City – This southern city is appealing for a more lenient coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quarantine classification following a significant drop in cases here.
Presently, the city is under a general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions.
In a letter to the national taskforces, Mayor Jerry Treñas cited the downtrend movement of the city’s daily average count with only 20 cases as of Oct. 11.
There’s also a significant decrease in the average daily attack rate (ADAR) from 29.68 percent to 17.22 percent, the mayor said.
The city government also increased its temporary treatment and monitoring facility capacity in Barangay Sooc, Arevalo district with the utilization of the Department of Public Works and Highways-constructed isolation facilities to cater to mild to moderate coronavirus patients.
Specifically, 32 additional beds were augmented to the facility in Arevalo.
The city and DPWH are also discussing to put up two more 22-bed capacity modular hospital units here, according to Treñas.
“In the next months, there will be a total of at least 76 supplementary treatment facilities,” Treñas said.
Treñas also cited the “consistent and aggressive” vaccination against COVID-19 in this city with 62.06 percent of the target population now fully inoculated.
Treñas said Iloilo City now comes second to the National Capital Region’s vaccination accomplishment rate among other provinces and highly urbanized cities in the country.
“Iloilo City as a key economic center is imperative to gradually ease on lockdowns to revive its crippled economy,” Treñas pointed out, saying the metropolis can no longer afford to impose highly restrictive lockdowns.
Treñas added that the city “has come so far” in terms of readiness to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
“At this point, we have no choice but to arrest the economic free fall. We want to help businesses in our locality navigate through the realities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic with your favorite approval of this instant appeal,” said Treñas.
Meanwhile, the business sector backed the appeal.
Lea Lara, executive director of the Iloilo Business Club (IBC), hopes the city will be able to maintain the downward trend of new cases.
“The holiday season is fast approaching. We are hopeful for an improved economic activity,” said Lara.
She further noted more and more stores are earning “safety seals” and having fully vaccinated employees.
However, she emphasized there is still a need for vigilance and compliance with the health protocols.
As of Oct. 12, Iloilo City had 21,199 cumulative COVID cases – 1,170 were active, 19,481 recovered and 542 deaths./PN