CEBU CITY –– Unlike days leading to Christmas Day, people who go out of their homes in this city on the New Year have to bring their quarantine passes.
City Mayor Edgardo Labella said he had not suspended the use of quarantine passes on Jan. 1, 2021 to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“The reason quarantine passes were suspended during Christmas was to allow the people to keep the tradition of attending the Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo,” he said.
With a new COVID-19 variant affecting some countries, Labella urged people in the city to stay indoors if they have nothing important to do outside.
“If possible, stay within the confines of our home than go out,” he said.
Labella said the implementation of the quarantine passes has been among the reasons the city was able to flatten the curve.
As of Dec. 30, Cebu City has 10,820 COVID-19 cases, where 108 were active with 690 deaths, and 10,222 recoveries.
From over 200 infections per day in June and July, the newly recorded cases in Cebu City in the past few weeks range between five and 20.
Critical care utilization rate in hospitals is also down from more than 80 percent to 19 percent, said Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of the Department of Health in Central Visayas.
Loreche, however, reminded Cebuanos not to be complacent and to continue observing health protocols like wearing face masks, practicing physical distancing, and staying indoors as much as possible.
Based on the quarantine ordinance, violators face an administrative fine of P500 for the first offense, P1,000 for the second, and P3,000 or 30 days imprisonment for the third offense depending on the court discretion.
The Queen City of the South was once considered as the second epicenter of COVID-19 in the country after Metro Manila, due to a surge in the number of cases in June.
Three months later, the city was placed under modified general community quarantine, the most relaxed quarantine classifications in the country.