Cebu City is now back under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) amid its soaring new coronavirus cases.
In a statement, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) decided to impose the highest community quarantine to the city after observing the trend in most of its barangays.
He also said there was a “consistent case doubling time of less than seven days and significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity.”
Talisay City, which is also a component city of the province of Cebu, was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine for the same reason.
Both cities were previously under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Amid the surging incidents of Covid-19 cases in the province of Cebu, chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito Galvez said they deployed additional ventilators as well as personal protective equipment (PPE) in the province to support its healthcare facilities.
For his part, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he will be sending additional police in the province to help in implementing quarantine restrictions there.
Retained status
Meanwhile, the IATF to decided to retain the general community quarantine (GCQ) for the National Capital Region (NCR), Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Santiago City in Region 2; Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Tarlac, Olongapo City in Region 3; Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, and Occidental Mindoro in Region 4-A for Luzon.
In Visayas, the areas that were placed under GCQ, are Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Mandaue City, Lau-Lapu City in Region 7.
For Mindanao, these are Davao City and Zamboanga City.
Año said he already met with local government officials and the Philippine National Police (PNP) so they can strictly impose a barangay-based lockdown in the said areas to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
The rest of the country remains under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
The IATF said the new classifications will take effect from June 16 to June 30, 2020.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte approved the new IATF recommendation contained its Resolution 46-A during its meeting with is representatives on Monday.
Image credits: Alexey Kornylyev | Dreamstime.com
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