The Mati Incident Management Team is bracing for a possible surge on cases of Covid-19 infection as the holiday season starts.
Mati IMT head Dr. Ben Hur Catbagan Jr. said that they expect an increase in the number of travelers from outside Mati to be coming in and celebrate Christmas and New Year here.
He said that with the holiday season, parties and gatherings are also expected to happen thus increasing the chances of infection.
“We are preparing for the possible increase in cases especially during holidays — increasing numbers of incoming travellers, increase number of events, parties. Let’s continue to be vigilant, avoid risky behaviors that will further expose us to the virus. We can always celebrate the holidays in a safe secure way with our immediate family, so we can go on New Normal the following year, helping one another in reviving our economy,” Catbagan said.
The City of Mati has an average of 200 ROFs and LSIs arrivals every month. This excludes the thousands of tourists visiting the city every weekend.
Catbagan said that this despite Mati having opened its doors to tourism the past several months now, the Mati IMT was able to “beat Covid for every wave”.
“Every time there was a possible surge of cases, we responded by enforcing minimum health standards, tested and isolated cases, traced contacts and quarantined them, and we were able to cut transmission every time in a matter of days, leading to a sense of normalcy in our city. We have beaten COVID for every wave in the past months so far, but there is still no assurance that we will not be having a surge of cases again soon,” Catbagan said.
The Mati IMT head the continuing success in their management of the virus is also a proof “that the people have cooperated and we should thank them and continue to encourage them to practice masking up, distancing, hand hygiene, avoiding crowds to protect them and their families.”
“With God’s blessings , let’s continue to save lives and livelihood,” Catbagan ended.
As of today, December 7, the City of Mati has registered a total of 127 confirmed cases of which 122 have recovered, 3 have died, and only 2 remained active. (CIO MATI)