BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A policeman, who was among the 548 individuals who participated in the surveillance testing of the Bacolod City government over the weekend yielded positive result for Covid-19, city executive assistant Ernie Pineda said yesterday.
Pineda, head of the city’s Quick Reaction Team, said they received on Tuesday night the partial results of those who were tested.
On Saturday, 81 policemen and riders from 10 door-to-door delivery services submitted themselves to polymerase chain reaction testing to ensure that they are Covid-free.
An additional 467 riders and policemen were tested Sunday at the Bacolod Arts and Youth Center.
Pineda said they will evaluate whether or not they will push through with the planned testing of more door-to-door delivery service riders on December 5 and 6.
He added they will also assess if there is a need to include the public utility drivers in the surveillance testing.
They are yet to meet with the Emergency Operations Center Task Force on the planned surveillance testing of traffic enforcers and staff of the Public Order Safety Office, he added.
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte downgraded the status of Bacolod City to Modified General Community Quarantine after noting a significant decrease in the number of active Covid cases.
CURVE FLATTENED
Retired Major General Mel Felciano, Inter Agency Task Force Visayas chief implementer, who supervised the establishment and initial operations of the Bacolod City EOC noted that the city has already flattened the curve on coronavirus cases.
Feliciano said Bacolod is now one of the safest places in the country.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod City government will wait for specific guidelines from the National IATF on the conduct of Christmas parties.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, in a radio interview, said that based on the guidelines of the National IATF, areas under MGCQ may hold mass gatherings.
Familiaran, who heads the city’s IATF, however, stressed that the crowd in these gatherings should be limited to 50 percent of the total capacity of the venue. The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod had earlier announced it will no longer hold a Christmas party because of the ongoing pandemic.*
