By Christine Fabro
Following the imposition of an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in some areas in Visayas and Mindanao, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it is “ready” to augment resources for the affected local government units (LGUs).
“As soon as the ECQ was imposed, the DSWD Field Office (FO) VI received a total of 5,000 family food packs (FFPs) augmentation from the Visayas Disaster Response Center. Currently, FO VI has a total of 10,439 FFPs and standby funds worth more than ₱3 million,” the DSWD said in a media release.
The Department said that DSWD Field Office VI and X are consistently coordinating with concerned LGUs to determine the number of families that are eligible to receive aid from the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
“AICS is a regular program of the Department that provides medical, burial, transportation, food and non-food assistance in the form of outright cash to aid in the recovery of the poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged individuals or families during unexpected life situations,” it said.
In an Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) resolution on July 15, it placed Iloilo Province, Iloilo City, Cagayan De Oro, and Component City of Gingoog (province of Misamis Oriental) under ECQ from July 16 to July 31.
ECQ recommended prior to Delta variant detection
According to the Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, a recommendation to impose ECQ in Iloilo Province and Iloilo City was made prior to the detection of COVID-19 Delta variant in Western Visayas due to the continuing trend of increase in two-week growth rate and average daily attack rate, which are the primary parameters of our IATF community quarantine classifications.
She also said during a public briefing on Monday (July 19) that their health care and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization remains at high-risk and nearing critical risk.
“When we discussed in our Screening and Validation Committee, napagkasunduan ng mga miyembro ng ahensya na we can do modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) but they have to commit to improve their hospital capacity,” Vergeire said.
“But during the time that we were able to seek the sequencing results came out, nakita natin na iyong Alpha and Beta variants ay tumaas at madami po tayong na-detect sa Iloilo City and Iloilo Province. [Isa] po sa pinag-usapan with the National Task Force, DILG, at saka iyong iba pa pong mga ahensya na… iyong gateway for Antique, mayroong posibilidad na dumadaan sa Iloilo City or Iloilo Province,” she added.
Vergeire said that imposing ECQ will better contain the spread of virus in these areas. – rir
