Candon City placed on stricter MECQ for 2 weeks

Candon City in Ilocos Sur province was forced to revert to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine for two weeks as the city’s health authorities found most number of active COVID-19 cases in the province here. Photo courtesy of Candon government

LAOAG CITY –– Candon City in Ilocos Sur province was placed on the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for two weeks starting May 16 to curb the spread of COVID-19, said Gov. Ryan Singson.

MECQ is the second most restrictive quarantine classification in the country. Candon was previously under the less stringent community quarantine (GCQ) since May 6.

In an executive order on May 15, Singson said the change in quarantine status was necessary as the threat of COVID-19 remained high in the province. The bulk of the cases was coming from Candon.

The provincial COVID-19 task force had also confirmed the local transmission of the disease in the city, which warranted the imposition of MECQ, Singson said.

He said the spread of the virus in the city had to be stopped before the growing number of infections could overwhelm Ilocos Sur’s health system.

Candon has four isolation facilities with 35 beds exclusively dedicated to patients infected with COVID-19.

As of May 16, the bed occupancy rate in Candon was at 31.43 percent, which falls under the “safe zone” level as classified by the Department of Health, records showed.

Of the 280 beds dedicated to COVID-19 in Ilocos Sur, 33.2 percent had been occupied, according to DOH data as of May 15.

LZB