BACOLOD CITY –– Cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in this city have gone down in the past weeks.
The Department of Health (DOH) said new cases decreased to single digits compared to the three-digit levels in August.
From modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) two months ago, Bacolod’s status was eased to general community quarantine (GCQ) until Oct. 31.
On Tuesday, the city only had four new COVID-19 cases.
Retired Maj. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, the chief implementer of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas, said this development could be attributed to the effective interventions and systems implemented to curb local transmission.
Since the start of the pandemic, Bacolod has had 4,633 COVID-19 cases where 539 remained active with 3,976 recoveries and 118 deaths.
Meanwhile, starting Oct. 26, the Bacolod City Health Office would no longer accommodate patients showing COVID-19 symptoms, said City Administrator Em Ang, executive director, and deputy for administration and operations of the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center – Task Force (EOC-TF).
“This is to protect other patients – especially pregnant women – from contracting the viral disease,” she said.
“In our daily reports, there are always pregnant women who are tested positive. We are making a study on that right now. We are planning to meet with the Philippine Obstetrics and Gynecologist Society (POGS) in the next few days. We’d like to find out what is causing that,” Ang said.
By discouraging the CHO from receiving patients “with influenza-like symptoms like cough, fever, or anybody who manifests symptoms related to COVID-19,” the EOC-TF is hoping to “minimize the transmission among pregnant women.”
The patients with COVID-19 symptoms will instead be accommodated at the Bacolod Respiratory Out-Patient (BRO) Center.
“The BRO Center will be our catchment area,” Ang said.