ILOILO City – In the first six days of this month, cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in this city were 54.19 percent lower than the cases recorded in the same period in September.
From 906 cases from Sept. 1 to Sept. 6, cases decreased to 415 logged between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6, data from the City Health Office (CHO) showed.
Also, the metropolis posted 69 average daily cases from Oct. 1 to 6, with the lowest at 39 cases on Oct. 3 and highest at 86 on Oct. 2. This was 54.30 percent lower compared to the 151 daily average recorded in the same period last month.
“The city’s COVID responses are working,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas. “But we should not be complacent. We continue to encourage those who are eligible to get vaccinated and practice health safety protocols.”
According to Treñas, the city has sufficient vaccines with regular deliveries of its purchased AstraZeneca jabs.
City COVID focal person, Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna attributed the slowdown infections to the city’s high vaccination rate – now 51.72 percent full vaccinated residents, or 271,520 individuals of the 525,000 population target.
COVID spokesperson Jeck Conlu said, “granular lockdowns are working” because positive patients are isolated immediately. Their close contacts are also traced and quarantined, and scheduled for swabbing.
Iloilo City Molecular Laboratory head Chiqui Blancaflor said they processed an average of 500 swab samples Monday to Saturday in September in an effort to “effectively and efficiently manage swelling confirmed cases”.(with Iloilo City PIO/PN)