The city government here will appeal to the national Inter-Agency Task for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for a lower quarantine classification as its current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) status will already end this week.

“We need for the national IATF to understand that we are a regional center. If the city is on lockdown again, so many are out of jobs. The PHP1,000 per person that will be given by the government through the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) will help, but unfortunately, it will not be enough,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said in a statement on Wednesday.

The city was first placed on modified ECQ from May 23 to July 15 but was elevated to a stricter quarantine classification until the end of this month due to its rising cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Treñas said while the cases in the city are declining, the parameters being used by the IATF for the classification remain high.

A situational report of the Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH WV CHD) showed that the city was already at a moderate risk but the health care utilization rate (HCUR) was considered high risk as of July 25.

“Our Covid beds and ICU (intensive care unit) beds utilization rates are still high since patients coming from Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo province, and Guimaras are being brought to our hospitals for treatment. Cases continue to go up in these provinces,” he added.

Treñas said the local government is “doing very well” in contact tracing. It also has the highest number of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests that were conducted.

Further, houses with confirmed cases are placed on lockdown even as the city has a lot of quarantine facilities for positive patients.

The city government also goes massive in the conduct of the vaccination program.

As per report from the City Health Office (CHO), more than 73, 000 or around 16 percent of the target population have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

The local government also encouraged those who have yet to avail of their jabs to register in their respective barangays, malls, or at the Globe vaccination site in front of the Jaro cathedral in Jaro district. (PNA)