Davao, Iloilo cases still rising despite MECQ

WHAT RULES? Despite constant reminders to observe social distancing, commuters in Davao City shove and push elbow-to-elbow to board public transport vehicles during morning rush hours on June 7. —KARLOS MANLUPIG

DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — More than a week into modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the cases of coronavirus disease here still remained high, registering 303 new COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, according to the data from the Department of Health (DOH).

The number of new cases in the city was 57 percent of the 531 cases registered in the Davao region on June 12, bringing to 3,109 the total number of active cases in the city, or about half of the 6,115 active COVID-19 cases in the entire Davao region.

Most, or 86.4 percent of the cases in the region, totaling 4,953, were asymptomatic, the DOH said. Only 10.8 percent, or 618 cases, were mild while the rest were severe and critical cases.

Mayor Sara Duterte earlier asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to place the city under stricter quarantine to curb the rising COVID-19 cases. The IATF granted the city government’s request and placed this city under MECQ up to June 20.

No walk-in

Due to the alarming rise of COVID-19 cases, the city government strongly discouraged walk-ins at vaccination sites to avoid crowding and the risk of being infected, and instead asked the public to coordinate with their district and barangay health offices for their vaccination schedules.

On June 1, or four days before the IATF granted the local government’s request to place Davao City under stricter quarantine, it registered a record high of 338 COVID-19 cases in one day, which the city health office attributed to aggressive swabbing and testing.

Dr. Marjorie Culas, assistant city health officer, also said the majority of the detected transmissions in the city were within workplaces, establishments and households. She said that among the most affected were business process outsourcing companies, aside from government offices.

Record high

Following Davao City, Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte provinces registered 84 new cases, respectively, as of June 12. But the active cases in Davao del Norte already reached 1,419; with total deaths of 190 since the beginning of the pandemic. Davao City registered a cumulative death toll of 799.In Iloilo City, local executives in Western Visayas will request the IATF for additional and steady supply of vaccines amid a record-high number of COVID-19 cases.

CLOSED ANEW More than a year since the pandemic struck, nonessential stores and other establishments are again closed in Iloilo City after the city was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine from June 1 to June 15 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. —IAN PAUL CORDERO/CONTRIBUTOR

The governors of the six provinces in the region, and mayors of Bacolod and Iloilo cities held an emergency online conference on Saturday and agreed to request for a meeting with IATF officials to show them the “real situation” in their localities and why the region is in dire need of steady supply of vaccines, said Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas in a statement.

Iloilo City will also ask the IATF to extend its MECQ status, which was set to end on June 15, until the end of the month because of rising COVID-19 cases, said the mayor.

The surge in cases has resulted in a shortage in hospital beds with more than 250 patients waitlisted as of June 11, Treñas said.

Iloilo City has been recording more than 100 new cases daily from June 1 to June 10, the highest of which was on June 10 with 171 new cases.

On June 12, Western Visayas recorded 978 new infections, the highest in a day since cases were tallied in March 2020.