By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The city government of Bacolod has no longer submitted an appeal for a lower quarantine status after the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) released a decision to retain the general community quarantine with heightened restrictions (GCQ-HR) status for the city which starts today until September 30.

Bacolod City Administrator Em Ang said even before the IATF issued the final announcement, they were given the time by the Department of the Interior and Local Government to decide and file an appeal for their quarantine status.

However, Ang said they currently have no intention of lowering the city’s quarantine status, and instead they followed the decision of the IATF.

Ang also stated they do not see any problems with the heightened restrictions status, pointing out that even under the less strict modified GCQ there are still a lot of restrictions being imposed.

She also urged the public to continue cooperating, follow health protocols, and to have themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.

Bacolod City is currently tagged by the Department of Health (DOH) as a “high risk” area as its COVID-19 average daily attack rate increased to 8.55 percent.

However, overall healthcare utilization rate in the city remains low at 44.58 percent./DGB, WDJ