As part of the intensified pandemic intervention, the provincial government of Lanao del Sur convenes municipal information officers, chiefs of police, and the Association of Barangay Council (ABC) for a provincial consultation and update on COVID-19 to discuss surge response. (Angelo D. Dologmandin/PIA-Lanao del Sur)
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur --As the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic persists with a new Omicron variant now affecting the country, the provincial government here through its Provincial Inter-agency Task Force (PIATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases intensified its surge response and other interventions to mitigate the present active cases.
Provincial Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. convened Tuesday, January 11, municipal information officers, chiefs of police and the Association of Barangay Council (ABC) presidents for a provincial consultation and update on COVID-19 to discuss surge response.
“Medyo inagahan natin iyong pagtatawag ng meeting dahil nga ayaw natin makaexperience muli ng iyong nangyari sa atin sa Delta na nagkaubusan ng oxygen… Kaya namin kayo ipinatawag dito para pag-usapan kung ano ang pwede nating gawing prevention dito sa bagong sakit na naman,” he said.
[We called for this meeting because we do not want to experience again what happened with Delta wherein we were running out of oxygen… That is why we called you here to talk about what we can do for the prevention of this new disease.]
During the convention, Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) Chief Dr. Alinader Minalang bared that two of the challenges currently faced by the province are the increasing active COVID-19 cases and the low vaccination turn-out which he believes will worsen if they still do not take steps and be proactive in mitigating the cases.
Such concerns are accordingly visible on the record as of 8:00 AM of January 10 wherein the province logged 23 new active cases resulting in 105 active cases of which 58 were from different municipalities and 47 from Marawi City.
Additionally, on the same day, a total of 289, 376 administered doses were tallied wherein 182,204 or 27.6% of the eligible population received the first dose, 107,172 or 16.2% were fully vaccinated, and 7,352 or 1.1% received the booster dose.
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Lanao del Sur Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) Chief Dr. Alinader Minalang shares the ramped up efforts of the provincial government in the pursuit of effectively mitigating the COVID-19 cases. (Angelo D. Dologmandin/PIA-Lanao del Sur) |
The IPHO chief also said that during the first round of the national vaccination days, the province had inoculated 101,579 residents or 32.6% of the 310,646 target accomplishment while on the second round, only 29,171 residents received their jab which only constituted 17.6% of the target 165,690 vaccinees.
Minalang further reiterated that with the continued threats of newer variants, there is a need to sustainably cut transmission through the combination of vaccination and booster shots once eligible, and the diligent adherence to minimum health standard protocol.
With this, he underscored the province is now ramping up its interventions through alerting communities, implementing relevant issued policies, stricter border control and restriction of unvaccinated individuals, compelling barangay local government units to submit weekly COVID-19 reports, mobilization of all barangay health emergency response teams (BHERTs), listing of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, reporting fake vaccination cards, and revitalization of isolation facilities, among others.
Government officials are also continuously urged to play their part and uphold their mandate to successfully carry out the national vaccination program.
“As officials ng ating gobyerno, dapat ay maging modelo tayo dito sa pagbabakuna na ito [of our government, we should be models in this vaccination] because how would you expect na ang mga kababayan natin ay magpabakuna kung tayo mismo ay hindi magpabakuna [our fellowmen to get vaccinated if we, especially, do not want to be vaccinated],” said Minalang.
With the spike in the number of active cases in the province, Adiong earlier admitted that the provincial government and the frontliners are struggling in the battle against the pandemic as citizens continue to believe in fake news, posing that vaccinated individuals will die after two years or will become zombies.
As such, he once again appealed to the public to not be swayed by these as there is no truth in all of them, rather, everyone must see that the national government is doing its best to save its people through the offered safe COVID-19 vaccines. (CRG/PIA-Lanao del Sur)
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