Cebu City under ECQ again due to high coronavirus transmission rate

MANILA, Philippines – Cebu City will be placed under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) again due to a high rate of coronavirus infection, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday night.

During President Rodrigo Duterte’s briefing on the state of the government’s COVID-19 response, Duque relayed the recommendations that were approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

IATF is the government body tasked to spearhead the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Cabinet official, they have observed a widespread transmission in barangays in Cebu, as well as a high case doubling time for confirmed cases.

“Due to the increasing number of cases and widespread community transmission in majority of barangays in the city, as well as the consistent case doubling time of less than seven days, and significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity, Cebu City shall be placed under enhanced community quarantine,” Duque said.

“This is the recommendation, Mr. President, to be placed, to be escalated back to ECQ.  For the same reasons, Talisay City, a component city under the province of Cebu shall be placed under modified enhanced community quarantine until June 30,” he added.

Cebu, along with Metro Manila, transitioned last June 1 to a general community quarantine (GCQ) to jumpstart businesses affected by the pandemic.

Just recently, a Cebu City official slammed circulating information about the city being under ECQ again, branding it as “fake news”.  Mayor Edgardo Labella meanwhile said that he was optimistic that Cebu would retain its GCQ status.

/atm