There is a possibility that Bacolod City will be placed under the more stringent Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine by June 16 because of the surge in its COVID-19 cases, City Administrator Em Ang said Sunday, June 13.
Ang, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center executive director, said the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is set to deliberate on the quarantine status of Bacolod, Negros Occidental and other areas of the country Monday, June 14.
Ang said it is possible that Bacolod City could be placed under MECQ but they really do not know yet, IATF has yet to deliberate on it.
A lot of the rules set under MECQ are already being enforced by the city government, including limiting public gatherings to 30 percent of a venue’s capacity, she said.
Bacolod did not request for MECQ, what is most important is for residents to cooperate and observe all health protocols, she said.
Western Visayas has been tagged among the regions in the country with very high COVID-19 cases.
The Department of Health (DOH) has tagged Bacolod City as a COVID-19 high risk area.
On Saturday, Bacolod had 236 new COVID-19 cases and 178 on Sunday for a total of 1,952 active cases, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
Negros Occidental had 162 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and 116 on Sunday for a total of 2,368 active cases, the DOH said.
The Provincial Incident Management team said the COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental as of Sunday were 2,019.
The surge in COVID-19 cases began when the national IATF disallowed local governments from swabbing incoming passengers and placing them in quarantine on arrival until their negative RT- PCR test results were out, Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrado Diaz said Sunday.
“The mayors are blaming them for that, they want to assert local autonomy,” he said.
“They should allow local leaders to solve local issues. We have the capacity. Why will they not allow us?“ he asked.
Bacolod City should also insist on testing its incoming passengers on arrival, he added.*