QC gov't forms task force vs Delta variant
The Quezon City government has formed a task group in preparation for a possible surge of new COVID-19 infections that may come following the rise of the new Delta variant.
The local government made the move even if its positivity rate has already declined to five percent, which is a rate set by the World Health Organization at which infections are less likely to occur.
Under Executive Order No. 15 issued by Mayor Joy Belmonte, the task group called Delta Variant Task Force has identified key areas to concentrate on in terms of preventing the possible rise of COVID-19 infections.
According to the local government, actions to be done will include revisiting the city’s disease surveillance, active case finding and contact tracing capacity; its testing capability and the efficiency of its molecular laboratory in processing specimens; reviewing its isolation and quarantine protocols and the status and bed capacity of its HOPE facilities; and assessing equipment and manpower resources of hospitals handling moderate to severe cases.
Meanwhile, the city's Task Force Disiplina has been ordered to ramp up the monitoring and inspection of these areas to ensure that minimum health protocols are followed.
The task group will be composed of the city mayor, the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, the city health department, the Quezon City General Hospital, the Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital, the Novaliches District Hospital, the secretary to the mayor, chief of staff, office of the city administrator, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the Barangay and Community Relations Department, and the Public Affairs and Information Services Department.
On the other hand, Belmonte called as "good news" the low positivity rate that the city reported over the last week. This came after it only recorded 123 new cases from 141 over the previous week. Dr. Guido David, OCTA Research Fellow, said that cases in the city continue to remain stable, similar to the rest of the National Capital Region.
“We are not seeing an alarming trend but a generally flat trend in NCR. Quezon City is, in fact, one of the local government units with incidence lower than 5 per day,” David said.
Nevertheless, the local government said it remains vigilant through its extensive testing and aggressive contact tracing.