With declining number of COVID-19 cases

TACLOBAN CITY- Mayor Alfred Romualdez of this city said its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases now under control.
Romualdez said that he made this assessment as the COVID-19 cases of Tacloban appear to be declining  saying its daily cases report now average less than 10 cases.
“We see that the numbers are going down based on the report of our contact tracers. We now average between one to four cases. That’s a very good sign considering that we are a highly urbanized city with a dense population,” the city mayor said.
Last August 29, Tacloban posted its highest ever daily COVID-19 cases with 100.
But despite of the improving condition of Tacloban in terms of the number of persons getting the COVID-19 infection, Mayor Romualdez said that this should not give the people to be complacent.
He reminded the city residents to always observe and practice the mandatory health protocols like wearing of face mask and face shield and social distancing.
“We (have to) keep reminding our people to (observe) social distancing; wear face masks until the vaccine become available,” Romualdez said.
The city mayor said that Tacloban has been identified to be among the priority areas once the vaccine becomes available.
Based on the report of the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) last Tuesday (Dec.1), out of the 47 new cases of the region, seven were from Tacloban City.
For the entire month, Tacloban has posted 135 cases, which was comparatively lower compared to the month of October which was 158 cases.
In total, Tacloban, the regional and commercial capital of Eastern Visayas, posted 1,066 COVID-19 cases of which 16 of them have died.
At present, the city has 43 active cases.
Tacloban is among the seven areas in the country still under general community quarantine (GCQ) as announced by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. The status will last until the end of the month.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- This city glimmers with Christmas spirit during the launching of the Christmas on Wheels Competition 2020 in partnership with TNT / PLDT/Smart Telecommunications, Inc.
Eighteen lighted jeepneys paraded the metro during the pre-judging in the hope of winning the coveted prizes.
Councilor Aimee Grafil, representing Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez, in her speech, marveled at the resilience of Taclobanons who have been shaped by the challenges that they have faced and storms that they have weathered.
She said that she hopes that this activity will inspire and give hope to everyone in spite of the ‘darkness’ of the pandemic as she thanked the sponsors, partners, and organizers for their participation in this Yuletide activity.
Roy Nebrija of TNT explained that the activity will bring the spirit of the Christmas season to people’s barangays/homes without Taclobanons gathering in certain places if only to feel the spirit of the holidays.
He also expressed his thanks to the city government for the success of the first-ever Christmas on Wheels.
Driver Joey Oreno said in an interview, that he was encouraged by the jeepney’s operator to participate in this trailblazer event to boost every Taclobanons’ spirit despite having a tough year.
He excitedly shared that if he wins the prize, his family is in for a treat this Christmas and New Year’s.
Event sponsors are TNT, Uni-soft, Beybiko, Freeda, Cellcom, Panasonic, and RL Appliance in cooperation with Tingog Party-list, Rep. Martin Romualdez and his wife,  Rep. Yedda Romualdez, Land Transportation and Franchising and Regulatory Board, Land Transportation Office, City Tourism Operations Office, Traffic Operations Management, Enforcement and Control Office, Highway Patrol Group, Tacloban City Police Office, Leyte II Electric Company, Sangyaw Foundation, Love Radio, and BLS.
The contest will run through December, and winners will be announced on the 20th, at 6:30 pm at the CEO Gym. Criteria for judging are as follows:  Layout and design of the vehicle – 40%, and Visual lights effects – 60 %.
(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)

TACLOBAN CITY- Close to 200 individuals donated their precious blood that were donated to the blood bank of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), this city.
The bloodletting activity was spearheaded by the Tacloban Eagles District (TED) which aims to help address the lack of blood supply at the EVRMC’ blood bank.
Ahlyx Belleza, TED’s district governor, said that their bloodletting activity, held last November 21 at the covered court of the Santo Niño Speed Center, is very timely considering the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease(COVID-19).
“The bloodletting activity is very relevant nowadays considering that there is a need of blood supply during this time of pandemic and there are not enough blood supply at our blood bank at present,” Belleza said.
It was learned that the bloodletting activity undertaken by the TED is one of the requirements for one to become a member of the organization as it continue to expand.
For a member to become a regular member, he or she should have bring at least two blood donors.
For this particular bloodletting activity, the group was able to collect around 80 bags of blood from the donors.
The newly-established eagle branches are the Central Tacloban Eagle’s Club; the Central Balyuan Eagle’s Club; the Central Kanhuraw Lady Eagles Club; and Palo Eagles Club.
According to Belleza, this bloodletting activity will now become a regular activity of their organization in consonance of it being a ‘community service organization.’
The annual bloodletting activity will be known as ‘Dugo ng Agila.’
“We are happy that there are people who willingly donate their blood and (in the process) help other’s lives,” Belleza said.
The group has earlier conducted a gift-giving to 500 school children from different public elementary schools in the northern part of Tacloban under its adopt-a-school program. (JOEY A. GABIETA)