By Anthony Giron IMUS CITY – Local government units (LGUs) in Cavite province have strengthened their drive against the spread of the novel coronavirus Acute Respiratory Disease (COVID-19) with the formation of task forces in each city and municipality. This developed as the provincial, LGUs and the health office were one in saying that there was still no confirmed COVID-19 case that has been reported in any of the province's districts as of Wednesday noon, February 12. Cavite, with eight districts comprising seven cities and 16 municipalities, is the country's most populous province. Governor Juanito Victor C. Remulla Jr. and the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (PESU) under Dr. Nelson Soriano, have been monitoring the situation in the province since the national health office raised the COVID-19 alert last month. Information and Tourism Development Officer Edgardo Jay R. Saquilayan, citing health office reports, assured that no one has been afflicted with the Coronavirus in any 97 local barangays (villages). The officer made the statement as he reported that City Anti-Coronavirus Task Force was already in place. Saquilayan, also the designated City Anti-Coronavirus Task Force information manager, said that the task group was created by Mayor Emmnanuel Leonardo Maliksi last Friday in consonance with the directive of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to form the group that will well monitor and act against the virus. The Imus monitoring and action task force created is comprised of the mayor, officers from local health office, barangays (villages) and concerned departments and sectors. Saquilayan said that also included in the task group was the barangay health team in every team which will check and get data of sickly local residents and foreigners and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The barangay health emergency and response team will also be on stand-by in the areas, he said. The task force, through City Health Officer Randy L. Calingasan, will coordinate with the Provincial Health Office and PESU in their undertakings. "The fact is that there was no report of PUIs or persons under investigation in Imus, only PUMs or persons under monitoring with the city task force now on the track," Saquilayan told this reporter. The Imus local government was the first in Cavite LGU to reveal the plans of actions against COVID-19, following the issuance of the DILG's Memorandum Circular 2020-018. The city government has started its anti-COVID-19 information and education drive with its day-to-day posts in social media and other means two weeks ago. Saquilayan said that the anti-COVID-19 reminders will also be bolstered by tarpaulins to be put up in the city and leaflets to be distributed to the public to keep everyone informed about the virus. The city education campaign against nCoV will focus on actions, health care and prevention such as self-sanitation and surrounding cleaning, among others, he said. The other LGUs in upland and lowland districts of Cavite have also formed their own monitoring task force. The LGUs are following the guidelines and anti-COVID-19 action plans set forth under the DILG's memorandum circular. The Imus administration said that COVID-19 awareness campaign and the monitoring task force are a must considering its huge population, the foreign community and the number of OFWs in the area. The capital Imus is Cavite's fourth populous area, with over half-a-million residents, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and foreign citizens, just in the districts of Dasmarinas, Bacoor and General Trias. Cavite, the province nearest Metro Manila in the south, is a local and foreign tourist destination, with its historical areas and scenic spots in the lowland and upland districts.