The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) lauded the preventive and proactive measures initiated by local government units (LGUs) in Western Visayas against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“Our LGUs here are very proactive. They want also to show that their constituents are really being protected. They issued executive orders,” said OPAV Special Concerns Officer for Western Visayas Assistant Secretary Gerald “Jonji” Gonzales on Wednesday, Feb. 12.

“We are very happy because sila talaga ang frontliners dito. The NGAs (non-government agencies) will help and assist them but the LGUs are the frontliners in the fight against COVID-19,” he added.

The provinces of Antique, Iloilo, and Guimaras are 100 percent compliant in terms of organizing Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs).

In Aklan, 271 out of 327 barangays have emergency response teams while in Capiz, 460 out of 473 have BHERTs.

Gonzales urged Bacolod City to be aggresive in organizing their BHERTs. Of the city’s 61 barangays, only 17 were able to organize their BHERTs.

“Importante kasi si BHERTs because they are the ones who will check if ever may mga PUMs (persons under monitoring). Sila yung nagpupunta sa bahay twice a day nagkukuha ng temperature,” Gonzales stressed.

“We have to help each other. ‘Wag magpanic, ‘wag mag-disseminate ng fake news and to report sang mga possible cases. Huwag matakot kasi very low ang mortality rate, 2 percent so there is nothing to be scared of, gumagaling naman ang pasyente,” he added.

OPAV conducted a meeting with regional offices of the Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ), and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, among others, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the number of persons under investigation (PUIs) and persons under monitoring (PUMs) for COVID-19 in the region is decreasing.

According to Department of Health (DOH-6) Director Dr. Marlyn Convocar, as of Feb. 12, they recorded 29 PUIs in the region.

Broken down, 9 from Aklan, 2 from Antique, 2 from Capiz, 7 from Iloilo province, 3 from Negros Occidental, 3 from Bacolod City, and 3 from Iloilo City.

Of the total PUIs in the region, 26 tested negative for the disease. Only eight remain admitted in hospitals while the rest have already been discharged.

Four of the admitted persons are in Iloilo and one each in Antique, Cpaiz Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.

“They are all improving, ang eight nga admitted,” said Convocar.

Convocar attributed the declining number of PUIs in Western Visayas to the region’s “good surveillance efforts.”

“From the result sang aton gina-obra, tanan naton nga LGUs they are really on track, ready ang aton provincial hospitals sa pagcater sa mga possible patients under investigation,” she said.IMT

Photo by OPAV