TAGBILARAN CITY, Oct. 16 (PIA) -- Bohol's capital and the principal gateway to one of the country's top tourist destinations, Tagbilaran City is lauded for its zero fatality on COVID-19 with over 90 percent recovery rate of its minimal cases.

Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell "Baba" Yap II said early lockdown to immediately contain the health pandemic when it first broke out was strictly implemented not only in Tagbilaran City, but the entire province.

"In order to promptly contain the virus, the local government of Tagbilaran City immediately ordered a lockdown on March 16. We suspended classes and curfew was ruled until 9:00 p.m. Large gatherings were prohibited like weddings, birthday parties, and fiesta celebrations and imposed home quarantine strictly allowing only one person per household to have a quarantine pass to go out for basic necessities," said Yap in today's Network Briefing on COVID-19 anchored by Secretary Martin Andanar of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

As of today, there are only 53 reported COVID-19 cases in the city, with 49 or equivalent to 92 percent of positive cases fully recovered.

Yap further said the local government provided support to the medical frontliners by providing personal protective equipment, free flu vaccination and free ride, as public transportation also ceased to operate.

Free transportation is further provided to dialysis patients who need to go to the hospital or medical facilities for their regular treatment, he added.

Together with the city's SK Federation, the city government created an online shopping platform to make it easier for its constituents to access grocery goods, which is also one way of preventing people from going out of their homes to buy needed essentials.

"We also initiated the 'Balay to Balay Health Check-Up,' which brings doctors directly to the doorstep so that residents no longer need to go out and seek medical consultation," said Yap.

To protect the most vulnerable, the city government provided free flu vaccine shots to senior citizens and extended these to other frontliners like the police and jail personnel as well as city hall employees.

Regular disinfection of public places continues such as in sidewalks and plazas, said the young mayor.

In order to ensure that Bohol remains safe, the city government provided a free COVID-19 RT Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Test to locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipino workers before they are released from the quarantine facilities.

"We were able to procure early on the RT-PCR test kits," said Yap, as test kits are available when needed.

Quality education, on the other hand, is a priority agenda of the city and knowing the predicament of students under an online learning mechanism, Yap said they partnered with the Tagbilaran City College in providing free pocket wifi and a P300 monthly load to tertiary student-beneficiaries of said school.

As the economy eases up under the modified general community quarantine status, business establishments are slowly opening in Tagbilaran City, but Yap said health protocols must strictly be adopted in order to sustain the low incidence of COVID-19 cases in the locality.

In terms of food relief assistance, the local government was able to provide one sack of rice at 50 and 25 kilos done in four waves, said Yap.

He urged the public to make the health protocols a daily habit and not to forget to always pray for the pandemic to end soon. (fcr/PIA7)