Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda discusses the sudden increase of confirmed Covid-19 cases with provincial administrator Atty. Charlie Chua and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Managment Office chief Angelina Blanco before going livestream for his announcement. Photo courtesy of Jasmine Jaso/Pampanga PIO
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda is contemplating on recommending to the national Inter-Agency task Force to place the province of Pampanga under enhanced community quarantine or general community quarantine if cases of Covid-19 will continue to escalate in the coming days.
This came amid reports of increasing cases of confirmed coronavirus disease which surged into an “all time- high” of 133 after Pampanga was placed under modified general community quarantine on June 16.
Pineda noted that in a span of 10 days, additional 25 new cases were already reported – the highest increase recorded in the province.
The governor stressed that one contributing factor in the sudden increase of cases is the resumption of travel of Kapampangan workers to Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces.
According to the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (PESU), eight out of the 25 new cases have travel history in Metro Manila.
“Hindi naman tayo puwedeng agad bumalik sa ECQ, we need our workers to travel and we also need to help restart the economy,” Pineda said.
With this, the governor asked for the help of the private sector and government agencies to ensure the safety of Kapampangan workers who travel to and from the province.
“Nakikiusap po ako sa mga private sector at government agencies na i-house muna at huwag pauwiin ang mga workers nila kung hindi pa lumalabas ang resulta ng mga test para hindi kumalat ang virus,” he said.
He said the present situation of the province shall serve as a “lesson” to Kapampangans to be more compliant to the protocols and guidelines imposed by the provincial government to contain the virus.
“Sana po maging babala at aral ito sa ating lahat. Bawat Kapampangan, magtulungan para malabanan natin ito,” he appealed.
He added that if cases continue to rise in the future, other than ECQ and GCQ, localized community quarantine will be implemented.
“If mag-iincrease tayo sa cases because of local transmission, mapipilitan tayong magkaroon ng community-based lock down.” He added.
Figures from the PESU showed that out of the 133 confirmed cases, only 126 were validated and seven are still under verification by the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit and the Department of Health. – Luisse Rutao/Pampanga PIO
