Cagayan De Oro seeks imposition of GCQ rules

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The local government here is seeking the escalation of the city’s quarantine level after the unabated spike in COVID-19 cases that threatens to swamp the hospital system.

Mayor Oscar Moreno said he is writing a letter to the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) to raise the quarantine level of the entire city to general community quarantine (GCQ) from the current modified GCQ.

“I have no choice but to ask the IATF to raise the quarantine level following the recent increase of COVID-19 cases here,” Moreno told reporters during Thursday’s press briefing.

Moreno said he expected the IATF to grant his request and issue a declaration during its next announcement June 1.

The active cases in the city sprung to 1,085 as of May 27 with 111 new infections recorded by the City Health Office.

Local health officials also monitored 11 deaths in the past 24 hours, including prominent residents like Macasandig village chief Aaron Neri and lawyer Mateo Deligencia, who died of COVID-19 complications Thursday morning.

This brought the total deaths due to the disease to 296.

Chief epidemiologist Joselito Retuya said some 300 patients are now confined at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center and other hospitals in the city.

In the JR Borja General Hospital, COVID-19 patients waiting for admission have overflowed outside to the tents in the parking lots.

According to Dr. Jose Llacuna, northern Mindanao health director, Cagayan de Oro accounts for at least a third of total cases in the region. The virus surge in the city is driving the spike of infections throughout the region.

LZB