By Francis Allan L. Angelo
Will the Iloilo City government extend the ban on mass gatherings amid surging cases of Covid-19 this week?
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas is carefully looking at the situation amid speculations that he might not extend Executive Order No. 12-2021 that prohibits all forms of mass gatherings and meetings as a measure to stop Covid-19 from spreading.
For one, Treñas is considering the upcoming Valentine’s Day as a reason to end the ban on February 8, 2021.
“Ano na lang ang Valentine’s Day,” he said.
But the mayor said his final decision will rely on the trend in Covid-19 cases.
And the numbers don’t look that rosy as cases this week surged by 200% compared to January 1-4, 2021.
Based on data from the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the City Health Office, the city saw a 260% increase in new cases from February 1-4 compared to the same period in January.
On January 1-4, the city logged 14 cases against 54 on February 1-4.
The daily average of new cases also spiked 250% in the period.
Most of the new cases this week were close contacts of infected personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Immigration in Iloilo City.
Mass gatherings and eating together in a closed space are the reasons for the local transmission of the disease.
As of 12PM Friday, the city logged 10 new cases, including 7 local transmissions and 3 new cases. The new cases were the result of swab tests (RT-PCR) taken on February 3 and 4.
