ECQ should continue in Cebu City — Cimatu

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu. INQUIRER file photo / LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) should continue in Cebu City due to continued rise in confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the area, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said on Tuesday.

“We’ll have to maintain itong [this] quarantine level here,” Cimatu, who was appointed COVID-19 point person in Cebu City by President Rodrigo Duterte, said over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked about his recommendation for the quarantine measures in the city.

“It’s bleeding now. Tumataas nang tumataas ang cases, tumataas din ang number of deaths,” he said.

(It’s bleeding now. The number of cases is increasing as well as the number of deaths.)

The official noted that Cebu City logged 13 additional fatalities due to the respiratory illness just on Monday, which he said is even higher than the average number of daily recorded fatalities in the country at 10 to 12 deaths.

“So compared to the average for the NCR [National Capital Region] and all of the Philippines versus Cebu, mas malaki pa nga ata ang nangyayari sa Cebu,” he said.

(Compared to the average number of deaths in Metro Manila and all of the Philippines, it seems that the situation here in Cebu is even worse.)

Cimatu said he also recommended to the national government the improvement of health facilities in Cebu City, including the setting up of additional hospital rooms and conversion of large facilities into quarantine sites.

The quarantine setup in Cebu City was earlier reverted to the stricter ECQ from June 16 until June 30.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce new community quarantine measures in the country later on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Cebu City Health Department logged 191 new COVID-19 cases—a new record-high in its daily reporting of additional patients—bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the city to 5,141.

The number of patients who have recovered is now at 2,713, while the death toll was recorded at 169.

A day before the scheduled lapse of ECQ in Cebu City, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a television interview that the city is “more likely” the new epicenter of COVID-19 in the country.

National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez, Jr. later said the city is currently the “main focal point” of the disease in the Philippines.

JPV