Bohol’s COVID-19 task force convenes; aims for Alert Level 1

Bohol map. INQUIRER FILES

TAGBILARAN CITY — The Bohol’s Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) for COVID-19 convened on Tuesday, April 25, to find ways to lower its coronavirus classification.

Dr. Yul Lopez of the Bohol Provincial Health Office clarified that the Level 2 classification is not an escalation from Level 1 since the province has always been classified as Level 2 since June 2022.

“It’s not alarming,” said Lopez in a phone interview on Wednesday.

The local government, he said, plans to conduct mass vaccination after the Department of Health (DOH) announced that the province remains under Alert Level 2.

READ: IATF retains COVID-19 alert level in most parts of PH; some restrictions in effect

Lopez said at least 84% of the general population of Bohol was inoculated and has surpassed the 70% target.

According to the data from DOH, only 43 percent of the senior citizens in Bohol were fully vaccinated.

A mass vaccination, especially for senior citizens, is the solution to de-escalate the province’s classification to Alert Level 1.

“We will make a strategy and campaign on how to convince senior citizens to get vaccinated to boost coverage rate among the elderly population,” Lopez said.

READ: DOH: COVID-19 alert level system still being discussed

Bohol Gov. Aris Aumentado urged all residents to follow the minimum health protocols to ward off the dreaded virus.

“Wear a face mask, practice social distancing and hand washing,” he said.

Aumentado appealed to the people not yet inoculated to submit themselves to vaccination against COVID-19.

READ: COVID-19 positivity rate up from 8.5% to 8.8% — OCTA

“Be vaccinated so we won’t fear COVID-19,” he said.

Aumentado said the province is bracing for huge crowds to attend fiestas which are celebrated daily in Bohol in May

As of April 26, Bohol has recorded 599 COVID-19 deaths. It has 18 active cases and 26,930 total registered cases.