12 Cebu City brgys tagged as COVID-19 hotspots; to be under ‘total lockdown’

MANILA, Philippines — Twelve out of 80 barangays in Cebu City have been tagged as hotspots for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and will be placed under total lockdown, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said Thursday.

“There are about 11 barangays na considered [as] hotspots,” Cimatu, who was sent by President Rodrigo Duterte to oversee the COVID-19 response in Cebu City, said in a Zoom meeting with reporters

Cimatu later identified the 12 barangays as:

Sambag Dos

Kamputhaw

Sambag Uno

Basak San Nicolas

Mabolo

Guadalupe

Lahug

Duljo

Tinago

Tisa

Ermita

Tejero

“In the meantime ngayon, habang ECQ, we have to prevent yung paglabas ng mga tao dito sa barangays para hindi magkahawaan,” he said.

(But in the meantime, we have to prevent them from going out of their homes so they won’t be contaminated.)

Cimatu added that he will talk to the barangay (village) captains of the concerned areas.

“This time, we will make the barangay captains responsible sa barangay nila (on their areas). Itong mga barangay na ito, tatanungin namin sa [mga captain] kung bakit nagkaroon ng ganyan sa barangay. What happened? What did you do?” he said.

(These barangays, we will ask the captains what happened in their areas. What happened? What did you do?)

In a speech Monday night, Duterte ordered Cimatu to go to Cebu City to oversee the government’s COVID-19 response in the area, after the city saw a spike in COVID-19 infections.

Due to high cases of COVID-19 in the area, Cebu City is now under is now under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

/MUF