By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Bacolod City and the province of Negros Occidental extended their status under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.
The extension is also based on the decision of the national interagency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases (NIATF-MEID).
Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued on Saturday Executive Order No. 53 extending for the fifth time the MGCQ status in this city from Aug 15 to 31, 2020.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson also signed Executive Order No. 20-36 with the same intention.
On Saturday morning, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that Bacolod City and Negros Occidental are among the areas to remain under MGCQ until Aug 31 based on NIATF-MEID Resolution No. 63 series of 2020.
Leonardia said the continuity of the MQCQ requires that Bacolodnon “shall have to adopt
some necessary lifestyle changes because the said deadly disease is still a scourge in Bacolod City and in the world.”
The mayor added that Bacolod must still take necessary health precautions under the MGCQ while it aims to eventually graduate into the “New Normal.”
Lacson said the province has 721 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Aug 13, while the entire country has 153,660 cases.
“Because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in our country, there is still a need to place the province of Negros Occidental under Modified General Community Quarantine,” Lacson said.
