Patients admitted at the D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital have to contend with lying on beds outside the overwhelmed medical facility in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. Photo from the Provincial Health Office’s Facebook page
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 06 September) — Governor Santiago Cane has warned that if the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases will continue to rise at alarming proportions this week, he would place the entire province under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or total lockdown, the strictest among the quarantine measures put in place by the national government.
The governor earlier issued Executive Order No. 21 placing the province under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from general community quarantine (GCQ) starting August 27 until September 11.
“Kung mapababa ang kaso, we might go back to GCQ or continue to be MECQ, or worse baka mag-ECQ kung hindi talaga namin mapigil ang pagtaas ng kaso ( If the cases will go down, we might go back to GCQ or continue to be MECQ, or worse to ECQ if we cannot control the rising cases of COVID-19),” Cane told Communications Secretary Martin Andanar , host of PTV’s Network Briefing News program.
Amid the alarming COVID-19 cases, the province remains free from the Lambda and Delta variants, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
Cane called on DOH – Caraga to continue its efforts “in preventing the entry of the dreaded Lambda and Delta COVID-19 variants in the province.”
“I really appreciate the efforts of DOH in Caraga,” he said.
The rising COVID-19 cases have already overwhelmed most government hospitals in the province.
The Provincial Health Office reported that as of September 3, the D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital has admitted 85 COVID-19 patients out of its 62-bed capacity. Two patients had died. Many of the admitted patients have been confined on beds placed on tents outside the hospital.
The Bunawan District Hospital, which has a 25-bed COVID-19 capacity, has admitted 31 patients, one of whom had died.
The Loreto District Hospital, which allotted three beds for COVID-19, has admitted 13 patients while the La Paz Municipal Hospital, which has a five-bed capacity for COVID-19, has admitted 13 patients.
There were 24 COVID-19 patients admitted at the Talacogon District Hospital, which has a 36-bed capacity.
Since the MECQ classification, COVID-19 cases remain high with 50 on September 3, 163 on September 2, 50 on September 1 and 84 on August 31. There were 227 total cases from August 28-30.
The town of San Francisco, the center of commerce and trade in the province, continues to be the topnotcher in terms of daily cases. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)
