By Christine Fabro
Northern Samar has reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases after a ‘church concert’ was conducted, which resulted in placing some of its municipalities and barangays under granular lockdown.
As of June 10, Northern Samar has reported 123 new active COVID-19 cases for one day, which tallied its active cases to 412 as of June 11.
According to Northern Samar Gov. Edwin Ongchuan, the infection transpired from a social gathering in the form of a church concert in the municipality of Victoria, Northern Samar.
In response, the governor urged the local chief executives to temporarily prohibit all church gatherings and to actively implement the local government’s Oplan Disiplina, in which individuals must strictly follow the minimum health protocols such as wearing of face masks and face shields.
“Noong before, noong nagkaroon ng cases, considered kami as low risk areas. Nasa MGCQ (Modified General Community Quarantine) kami before. Saka iyon, nag-request ang mga governors ng Eastern Visayas na i-heightened to GCQ (General Community Quarantine). Nag-recommend na rin ang Regional Inter-agency Task Force papunta sa National Inter-Agency Task Force na maiangat po sa GCQ,” said Ongchuan.
The governor also said that the vaccines allocated in the province are insufficient.
“Sa ngayon, kulang iyong nabibigay na bakuna dito sa aming probinsya. In fact, itong dumating, nagkaroon lang kami ng allocation na 2,000 na Sinovac dito, kulang na kulang po. Dito lang sa aming capital town na Catarman, ang kailangan is 1,000 sana, [pero] ang na-allocate lang namin is 200 so marami pa kulang,” he said.
He appealed to the authorities for more supply of vaccines to be allocated in the province to achieve population protection by containing the virus.
“Kahit ano po, Sinovac or AstraZeneca, willing na willing po naman naming tanggapin para naman maibsan na ang active cases sa aming probinsya. Palagay ko… ito lang po iyong aming nakikitang pag-asa para po maibalik na namin sa dating sitwasyon ang aming probinsya,” Ongchuan said. -rir
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