TESDA-Capiz chief succumbs to COVID-19

By Felipe V. Celino 

ROXAS CITY, Capiz— The provincial director of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Capiz died from COVID-19 Thursday.

Abdel Bakhri Hajan expired in a hospital here.

The TESDA office here was placed under lockdown since Monday after some employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the local government noted a drastic decrease in new COVID cases after the city was placed under Modified Enhance Community Quarantine (MECQ) for a month.

This was confirmed by Ronald Amigo, Assistant Department Head of the Roxas City Government.

In a meeting with Roxas City Mayor Ronnie Dadivas, Amigo said the cooperation of the residents to MECQ policies helped bring down the number of cases.

But he clarified that barangay and border control checkpoints in the city will remain even if Capiz is now under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status.

The Roxas City Anti Covid 19 Task Force Command Center reported that the city has 2,116 total confirmed cases (1,765 recoveries, 98 deaths, and 253 total active cases).

The city logged 22 new cases, 2 deaths and 17 recoveries as of Thursday.

The Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR) for every 100,000 population is 12.36 while the two-week growth rate is 21.52%.

The 14-days rolling average is now at 22 cases per day.

At the end of MECQ in June, 787 cases with 34 deaths were reported while 253 cases remain active.

Meanwhile, Mayor Ronnie Dadivas will no longer request for the extension of its month-long modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) which ended yesterday, June 30.

In a taped public address posted on his official Facebook page, he said because of the one-month MECQ, the city did not reach the projected 900 to 1,200 new cases in June.

For the whole month, the city logged 762 new cases.  But as of June 30, its active cases dropped to 250.

Also, from 35 to 45 average new positive cases a day, the city’s current daily average cases went down to 21.