Friday, July 2, 2021

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/

City places 20 establishments under lockdown

Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:55 AM PDT

DUE to the existing clustering of Covid-19 cases, 20 establishments in Davao City are set to be placed under lockdown this week, an official from the Covid-19 Task Force revealed on Thursday, July 1.

Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said in a radio interview that the number includes private and public offices and establishments.

Schlosser said they imposed a lockdown on establishments that failed to provide and declare an honest and comprehensive close contact line list to the District Health Officer Contact Tracer.

In addition, establishments that are not imposing health protocols in their premises were also subjected to lockdown.

She said they also consider establishments with clustering cases for violating health protocols.

"Kung naa sila'y cases na (If they have existing cases, that are) significantly high, more or less violator gyud sila kay ngano naa man sila'y cases. Meaning wala gyud siguro nila na-follow ang (they are violators because, in the first place, they wouldn't have cases if protocols were followed. This means, they were not able to abide by the) minimum health protocols," Schlosser said.

She said prior to the imposition of the lockdown, some establishments were given a 24-hour warning.

However, based on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) Zoning Containment Strategy, the official said there is no issuance of warning or notification.

"Once nga naa (there is an) increasing cases of Covid[-19] sa imong (in your) establishment, supposedly or ideally, right there and then, i-lockdown na sila (the place should be placed on lockdown)," she said.

"Pinakalit siya para dili sila makatago og information (It should be abruptly enforced so they won't be able to hide information). But the Covid[-19] Task Force is mas gusto nila compassionate man gud ang team (they give consideration since the team is compassionate)," she added.

While they are adopting IATF's containment strategy, she said the District Health Office is also conducting a risk assessment.

Despite having several active cases in their establishment, the health district will assess on the ground if they are "high risk" of causing massive transmission.

"Isa sa ginatan-aw is ang structure mismo sa (One of the consideration is the structure of the) building, if the minimum health protocols are being followed, kung naa ba sila'y (if they have existing) work arrangement, naa ba sila'y (if they follow) social distancing, kani ang mga (these are) several things nga gina-risk assess sa atong (that is being risk-assessed on the) ground level nga mga (of our) doctors and medical frontliners," she said.

Once they complied, there is a huge chance that the 20 listed establishments will not push through with the lockdown, and instead, conduct decontamination, and swabbing of individuals that are in closed contact.

Meanwhile, Schlosser declined to name the establishments.

The official said this is to "eradicate stigma" especially to those who tested positive for coronavirus.

"In this period of time, there is no one to blame. Ang nahitabo is that isa sa mga difficulty sa mga nagpositibo na tao is to come out na positibo sila kay ang tan-aw sa tao sila is naa silay sala, sila ang dahilan, tungod sa ila, naay spread (What is happening is there is difficulty on the part of the positive patient to come out positive because people treat them as if they are at the ones causing the spread of the virus)," she said.

Schlosser said the city is strictly monitoring the compliance of offices and establishments in enforcing health protocols to curb the spread of the transmission.

City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez previously said more than half of the Covid-19 transmission is happening in workplaces, contributing to the current surge of cases in the city.

The city noted a huge clustering of cases in government offices and private establishments.

The CHO recently lifted the lockdown of three big BPO companies in the city, which recorded several Covid-19 positive cases.

Lopez said the BPO firms, along with commercial banks, were among offices and workplaces that logged high incidences of Covid-19 cases, which resulted in them being locked down.

However, the CHO recently reported that transmission on workplaces has began to decline and that cases of community transmission are slowly contributing to the current surge of cases in the city.

Lopez said around 60 percent of the current cases in the city are coming from community transmission, particularly in households.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

City Council passes mandatory QR scanning

Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:53 AM PDT

THE implementation of the Safe Davao QR (DQR) code will soon be strictly implemented after the 19th Davao City Council approved the mandatory DQR scanning on Tuesday, June 29.

The ordinance for the mandatory implementation of the DQR scanning upon entry and exit for all establishments and all individuals, including non-residents of the city, was approved on third and final reading.

Among the provisions of the ordinance is the mandatory DQR scanning of all offices and establishments to individuals entering their premises.

Exempted are offices and establishments that are not enclosed or are not inside a structure with a roof and walls. These include milk tea stall, ambulant vendor, lechon manok stand, sari-sari store, bakery, and palengke (market) stall.

Also exempted are buildings that contain several offices or stores, including malls, hospitals, commercial complex, and other establishments similarly situated. In this case, individual stores and offices in a building should be the ones that will scan the DQR.

The ordinance also states the mandatory posting of DQR code in the entrance or exit of the establishment.

Individuals are not allowed to enter and leave the premises without their DQR being scanned.

Councilor Melchor Quitain Jr., City Council floor leader and committee chair on rules, privileges, laws and ordinances, said in his speech on June 22 that the ordinance aims to strictly implement the DQR, which is being used by the city for contact tracing purposes.

In December 2020, the City Council enacted the DQR ordinance one month after the city government launched and implemented the DQR system.

But Quitain said the previous ordinance did not make the scanning mandatory.

"Unfortunately, in the ordinance we approved [last December], we only made it mandatory for establishments and persons to register and get their own DQRs from the Davao City website," the councilor said.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to the scanning aspect, we have not yet made it mandatory in the said ordinance because, at that time, everything was experimental. We were able to secure our own DQRs, but the scanning, particularly the scanning app, was still in the process of being perfected," the councilor added.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued and signed Executive Order (EO) 02, requiring all establishments and offices in the city to implement the scanning of the DQR to all individuals entering their premises, effective February 3, 2021.

Duterte-Carpio, in a letter to Quitain dated May 31, requested the Council to craft the mandatory DQR scanning.

Meanwhile, other provisions of the previous DQR ordinance were adopted to the recently approved ordinance.

For individuals, the ordinance prohibits the use of DQR for non-essential movement, lending or permitting the use of personal DQR to another person, abusing it, using or possessing fake DQR, and using cancelled DQR.

Individuals are also prohibited from refusing to present DQR for scanning or inspection purposes when required by uniformed authorities. Presenting fake ID and other documents in the DQR registration is also not allowed.

Also penalized are individuals making or selling fake DQR, and hacking the DQR system.

Individuals using the DQR for non-essential movement, cancelled DQR, and failure to present DQR will be reprimanded for the first offense, while the offender will be penalized P1,000 for second offense, and P1,500 for third ordinance.

Business establishments who violate the ordinance will be issued written warning for first offense, while a fine of P5,000 and/or suspension of business operations for 30 days from date of violation will be imposed on second offense, and both fine of P5,000 and cancellation of business permit will be imposed on third offense.

DQR is an electronic contact tracing and travel pass platform intended to be implemented for several purposes in Davao City.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Davao City accelerates vax rollout, administers nearly 250,000 doses

Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:52 AM PDT

THE Davao City Government has accelerated its vaccination drive after nearly 250,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered to eligible individuals.

According to the Davao City Vaccination Cluster, as of June 29, a total of 246,743 doses were already rolled out, of which 203,256 were for the first dose while 43,487 were given as second doses.

For Priority Group A1, composed of healthcare workers, 40,205 were given for the first dose while 26,612 for second dose.

In the A2 Group or the senior citizens (A2 Group), the vaccines rolled out were 71,647 for the first dose, while 11,469 for the second dose.

Other priority groups include A3 (persons with comorbidities) wherein 85,074 jabbed for the first dose and 5,381 for second dose.

Vaccination for A4 (essential workers) started late June with 2,790 vaccinated with the first dose. This sector includes private-sector employees required to physically report to work, government personnel, workers in the informal sector, the self-employed who work outside of their homes, and private household workers. They are being inoculated alongside healthcare workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities.

For A5 or those from the indigent population, 3,540 doses were rolled out for the first dose, while 25 for second dose. These are residents belonging to the indigenous peoples (IP) communities in Marilog District.

City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in an interview that they have received "very good" response from the public, based on their assessment.

"General assessment is very good, the response of the people is very good. Ang commitment and compliance sa tao is excellent. Nagadugay-nagadugay, kini atong ongoing vaccination, nagadaghan ang nituo ani atong bakuna kontra Covid (Our general assessment is good, the response of the people is very good. The commitment and compliance of the people are excellent. Since we started our inoculation program, the vaccine acceptance among people has been increasing)," Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio Wednesday, June 30.

With the boosted vaccine supplies and the increasing number of individuals lining up to get the vaccine, he is confident that the city would be able to reach its targeted herd immunity.

"Kung mas daghan ang naga-participate mas dali nato makuha ang atong target nga 70 percent or 1.2 million (The more we have participating individuals, the faster we can achieve our target of 70 percent or 1.2 million)," Lopez said.

He said they still received cases of vaccinees experiencing adverse effects, but the majority are only mild cases.

Lopez said the City Government can cater to around 10,000 vaccinees per day on average if the supply of vaccine doses in the city is sufficient.

The City targets to fully vaccinate at least 1.2 million Dabawenyos or 70 percent of the total population to achieve herd immunity.

Current vaccines that are being inoculated are Sinovac's CoronaVac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and limited doses of Sputnik V.

Meanwhile, Lopez explained why the city immediately proceeded to A5 instead of A4, quoting President Rodrigo Duterte's previous pronouncement: "Gusto niya tagaan ang (He wanted)... 'I want to give the best vaccine to our indigents'."

Lopez also said they received a directive from the Department of Health that the allocation of Pfizer will be rolled out to A2, A3, and A5.

He said the remaining supply of Pfizer is expected to last until Friday, July 2.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

LTFRB-Davao temporarily suspends Libreng Sakay

Posted: 01 Jul 2021 04:51 AM PDT

FOLLOWING the expiration of the validity of Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 law on June 30, 2021, the Libreng Sakay program in Davao Region, which offers free rides for workers amid pandemic, is temporarily suspended.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Davao Region (LTFRB-Davao) Director Nonito Llanos III told SunStar Davao in a phone interview on Thursday, July 1, that the suspension of the free ride took effect the day after the law lapsed.

Llanos said the program was affected by the expiration of the Bayanihan 2 law since it is where their funding for the Libreng Sakay Program is being sourced.

LTFRB-Davao started deploying free bus rides for authorized persons outside residences (Apor), including medical frontliners, in the first week of May this year.

As of June 30, around 60,000 passengers were catered by the buses, which operated 24 hours daily before it was suspended.

Llanos said the national LTFRB is currently working on additional funding for the resumption of the program.

"Actually, mao na ginapaningkamutan sa central office, especially sa DOTr (Department of Transportation), kay naa naka-appropriate sa (Actually, that what we are working on in the central office, especially the DOTr, because it's already being appropriated in the) General Appropriations Act na (worth) P3 billion," he said, adding that they are waiting for the "go signal" from the national office in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the immediate release of the funding.

He admitted that the buses and the government's free ride program helped many frontliners make their daily expenses lighter.

"We know for the fact that healthcare workers are the most vulnerable when you talk about their jobs. Ila ginaatubang kay dili dali. (What they are facing is not easy.) Knowing the current Covid-19 cases in the region nga bulging ang cases (that cases are bulging)," Llanos said.

He added, "We also know that lisod isakay labi na nga nihit ang sakyanan (it is not easy to get a ride especially that vehicles are scarce) because it is not 100 percent, when we talk about the presence of public utility vehicles on the roads due to the pandemic."

The official also said they cannot blame the operators and drivers if they do not operate, especially during curfew hours due to the limited number of passengers on the streets.

As of now, he said local governments have not yet coordinated with them on the possibility of augmenting free rides.

In Davao City, Llanos said there is also no word from the City Government if they will let the Interim Bus System (IBS) operate for 24 hours.

IBS, currently operating in two routes -- C.P. Garcia Highway and Catalunan Grande, operates from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"Dili kaayo siya magiging [viable] (It is not really that viable) for healthcare workers kay dili ing-ana ka daghan ang ridership (because ridership is not that many)," he said.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

End of Summer Sale ☀️😎

20% OFF Inside!🤯 ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏...