The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) yesterday said it will bring Cebu’s effective coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response measures to the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo to help manage their rising number of cases.
Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales, assistant head of OPAV, announced they are planning to collate all the best practices adopted by the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu in their fight against the health crisis and put them into a manual or playbook.
The OPAV aims to make this available to other local government units (LGUs) in the Visayas to guide them in their mitigating measures against Covid-19.
Lawyer Mary Rose Lubino, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, attributed the city’s progress in containing the virus to the creation of cluster clinics, barangay isolation centers, and quarantine facilities, as well as augmentation of contact tracing teams and widespread testing.
“In Cebu City, our biggest game-changer is our ramped up contact tracing teams, which are now at 130 teams, to trace all possible first-level contacts,” Lubino said.
As the city gradually reopens its economy, she said vigilance is maintained especially that there is already increased mobility of people.*PNA
