By Panay News -Tuesday, November 3, 2020

BACOLOD City – Health facilities constructed here and in Negros Occidental are part of the readiness of local government units (LGUs) in their fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon, the COVID-19 testing czar.

During the recent inauguration of a quarantine facility in Barangay Alijis, Dizon said the construction of isolation centers and dormitories is part of LGUs’ preparations so that if COVID-19 cases rise again, “they will be better prepared than before.”

When COVID-19 cases began to rise in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, former congressman Abelardo “Albee” Benitez and retired Major General Mel Feliciano, chief implementer of the Visayas Inter-Agency Task Force, were talking almost every day for a week and were moving resources needed to assist the LGUs, Dizon revealed.

He acknowledged that at the start, it was difficult dealing with the swelling COVID-19 figures.

“But if we all work, we can bring the cases down. We have seen that already,” he said referring to the downtrend in COVID-19 cases in Cebu and now in Bacolod City.

He warned, though, against complacency because the virus is still around.

“What happened in August in Negros Occidental and Bacolod, what happened in Cebu in June, can still happen again. That is just the reality,” he said.

Dizon recalled that during the peak of COVID-19 transmission in Manila, the highest reported cases in a day were 4,700; now, it is down to less than 500. (With a report from PIA/PN)