March 28, 2024

The Department of the Interior and Local Government-Cordillera is strongly urging local government units to pass an ordinance regulating the movement of individuals who have not been vaccinated or have only been partially vaccinated in the region due to the threat of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Jan. 20 placed Kalinga, Ifugao, Mountain Province under alert level 4 due to a surge in Covid-19 infections.
DILG OIC Regional Director Araceli San Jose, who is also the chair of the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF), said an escalation to alert level 4 means an area has reached more than 70 percent in healthcare utilization rate, and alarmingly high two-week growth and average daily attack rates.
She also urged authorities to continue enforcing and the public to continue adhering to minimum public health standards.
“We urge our local chief executives to ensure the consistent implementation of minimum public health standards and to strengthen the implementation of the Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat, Reintegrate + Vaccinate strategy. Contact tracing, as well as closely monitoring of adherence to home quarantine and isolation protocols, including daily checking of quarantined individuals in-person or via mobile/telephone, must be aggressively pursued,” she said.
The DILG-CAR also advised LGUs to operationalize and plan for the expansion of their telemedicine services and to widely disseminate contact information to local communities.
San Jose said LGUs can always seek the assistance of the RTF Against Covid-19 and the RIATF through the Office of Civil Defense-Cordillera in conducting aggressive community testing to further detect Covid-19 carriers.
She also urged LGUs to work with Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams to bring Covid-19 vaccines closer to the people and cover the entire eligible population while also promoting trust in the effectiveness and safety of these vaccines. – Press release