Tacloban health exec downplays gov’t decision to put city in GCQ

TACLOBAN CITY — The health officer of this city downplayed the decision of the national government to put the city under a general community quarantine (GCQ).

Dr. Gloria Fabrigas said while the cases of the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the city has reached double digits in the past few days, there were also instances that it recorded single digits of new cases.

“There is nothing to be alarmed of. It is better for us not to let our guards down,” she said in a phone interview.

Fabrigas, however, made it clear that the city government did not recommend to put Tacloban under GCQ, saying that Malacañang have their parameters on how they categorize the quarantine status of certain areas.

Tacloban City was the only area in the Visayas that has been classified under GCQ by Malacañang.

Aside from Tacloban City, the other areas in the country that were placed under GCQ for February were Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Batangas, Davao City Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Iligan City.

The rest of the country have been classified under the less restrictive classification of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

Fabrigas said Tacloban has the most number of hospitals in Eastern Visayas where Covid-19 patients are confined.

There were even instances that these patients coming from other areas of the region were counted or considered to be Covid-19 cases for Tacloban.

Fabrigas said the city government under Mayor Alfred Romualdez is doing its best to contain the spread of the virus.

Existing health protocols like the wearing of face masks and face shields, social distancing and non-mass gathering are being strictly implemented by the city government.

On Saturday, 27 new cases were added to Tacloban’s Covid-19 cases, bringing its total number of infections to 1,683 with 32 deaths.

JPV