Davao City back to general community quarantine as virus cases rise

DAVAO CITY—The rising number of coronavirus cases here has prompted the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to recommend reverting the city’s status to a general community quarantine (GCQ) to stop the spread of the virus, Mayor Sara Duterte said on Monday.

The reclassification will be implemented on Wednesday, according to information relayed to the local government by the IATF, Duterte said.

Based on reports from the Department of Health, at least 146 new confirmed cases were recorded in Davao City since its status was downgraded to modified GCQ (MGCQ) on July 1.

Appeal

Health officials said at least 562 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in the city since the outbreak in early March, with 30 deaths.“We will try to appeal because there is a remedy allowed for [local governments] to appeal their classification,” Duterte said.

The mayor, however, said the city government would abide by the recommendation to return to a stricter community quarantine if the appeal would be denied.

She said the lifting of restrictions was one of the reasons behind the new cases, especially after more residents were allowed to leave their homes to work since establishments were allowed to reopen.

“And we have those who were exposed [to] their housemates who tested positive. There is also local transmission, plus the arriving locally stranded individuals and returning OFWs (overseas Filipino workers),” she added.

When the IATF downgraded Davao City to MGCQ, Duterte expressed surprise, considering that new cases were still being reported by health workers that time.

The local government urged residents to faithfully comply with precautionary measures to stop the spread of the disease. “We should treat everyone as COVID-19 positive. So we should protect ourselves,” Duterte said. INQ