By Francis Allan L. Angelo
Cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iloilo City spiked by 80 percent in the first 10 days of February 2021 compared to the same period last month.
Data from the Iloilo City COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center (EOC) indicated that 99 cases were logged from February 1-10 compared to 55 cases on January 1-10.
On a daily basis, February so far logged an average of 10 cases, which is 66.67 percent higher compared to 6 cases from January 1-10.
February 3 logged the biggest spike of 1,500 percent with 15 cases compared to zero on January 3. February 1 saw an 800 percent jump after logging 9 cases against 1 on the first day of 2021.
A 350 percent spike was also noted on February 4 against 4 cases a month before.
Three barangays in Jaro topped the list of villages with the most cases since January 1 – Quintin Salas (29), Balabago (22), and Tabuc Suba (20).
As of 12 pm Thursday, the EOC reported 7 new cases which include 5 local transmission and 2 new cases. The new cases underwent swab testing on February 10.
Earlier, the Iloilo City government traced new cases in January 2021 to holiday gatherings in private homes.
Mass gatherings in some government agencies and eating together in a closed space were also seen as reasons for the local transmission of the disease.
Meanwhile, the Iloilo City government has deployed barangay officials to hand out pre-registration forms to residents who want to be vaccinated.
The target of the pre-registration are Iloilo City residents 18 to 65 years old.
Iloilo City COVID-19 team spokesperson Jeck Conlu said in a radio interview that they will not force any resident to be inoculated.
But persons who do not join the pre-registration will be removed from the priority list of the city. If the time comes that they want to be vaccinated for some reason, they will have to wait until the priority population is inoculated.
Based on the initial information they gathered, many residents in La Paz and Lapuz are hesitant to be vaccinated due to fear or distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Iloilo City government has already pre-ordered 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca, which are expected to be delivered in July 2021.
