Iloilo City Hall operations suspended temporarily starting May 24

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Sunday ordered the temporary closure and suspension of operations of the Iloilo City Hall beginning May 24 to give way to the decontamination and mass testing of personnel.

Trenas ordered the mass testing using RT-PCR of all City Hall employees, elective officials, and workers.

Once they have undergone RT-PCR testing, personnel should undergo strict isolation or quarantine, he said.

Meanwhile, those who have already been tested and with negative RT-PCR results were ordered to return to work via work-from-home or other flexible work arrangements.

The temporary closure and suspension of operations of the City Hall offices will be in effect until otherwise announced.

Data from the Iloilo City-Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit showed that from May 1 to 22, there were 26 confirmed COVID-19 cases including two fatalities among City Hall employees, the mayor said.

In his executive order, Trenas cited the city’s COVID Response Team report showing a 290% increase in the daily average rate of COVID-19 cases in May 2021 from April 2021.

The City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU) also reported a 660% increase in the number of active cases.

Trenas also said the hospitals in Iloilo City have become overwhelmed these past few weeks due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

The mayor added that Iloilo City has been in the high risk category as of May 15, 2021.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Saturday approved the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status for Iloilo City starting May 23.

The MECQ will be in effect until May 31, the IATF resolution read, a copy of which was posted by the Iloilo City Government on its social media pages on Sunday. —KG, GMA News