BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Bacolod City will be on a two-day complete lockdown on 28 to 29 August 2020 for targeted mass testing, while Home Quarantine Passes will be issued to residents.
This was according to the new advisory of Mayor Evelio Leonardia as he announces more protocols that would help curb the spread of the CoViD-19.
The advisory said it will adopt a Test-Trace-Treat approach to the problem of CoViD-19.
The City Health Office will choose the 5,000 from Bacolod who will be tested via RT-PCR tests, with kits coming from the national government.
Five thousand more will be from Bago, Murcia, Talisay, and Silay. An Executive Order will be issued to enforce the implementation of the targeted mass testing.
All five biolaboraties in Bacolod and Silay will be used to process the specimens, with releases within 24 to 48 hours. (READ also: City, province on lockdown for mass testing next weekend)
Those who will test positive will be housed in isolation facilities, and contact tracing will follow. Negros Occidental Eugenio Jose Lacson, and consultant former Congressman Alfredo Abelardo Benitez have agreed to take care of the quarantine of those that will not be accommodated by the city’s facilities.
Other measures that Bacolod might take, apart from the two-day lockdown, are: issuance of Home Quarantine Passes to regulate movement of people without having to close down establishments or public transportation,
installation of border check-up points to restrict the exit form or entry into the city; voluntary suspension of mass gatherings like religious services while the city is on Modified General Community Quarantine, Sunday lockdowns, private businesses to voluntarily adopt alternative work arrangements to reduce personnel working onsite, more education and information campaign to make people understand how dangerous CoViD-19 is, and others that the government might see fit.
The measures will be enforced via an Executive Order, and subject to an ordinance by the City Council.
