Cebu City status downgraded from ECQ to MECQ until July 31

Updated @ 12:41 a.m., Thursday, July 16, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu City will have its lockdown downgraded from an enhanced to a modified enhanced community quarantine (from ECQ to MECQ), which will be enforced until July 31, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced Wednesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte made the decision as recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“The only city that will remain under MECQ is the city of Cebu,” Roque said in a briefing headed by President Rodrigo Duterte that was aired over state television network PTV.

Cebu City was under the strictest lockdown measure or ECQ from June 16 to July 15.

Despite the easing of restrictions, Roque explained city residents would be allowed only be allowed to go out to buy necessities or to go to work if they belong to an industry whose members were already allowed to resume work.

Public gatherings would still be prohibited, except for those with only five people.

“They have to stay at home and be homeowners,” Roque said in Filipino.

Earlier, experts from the University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas projected that the number of infections in Cebu City could reach 30,000 by July 31 if its quarantine status would be eased.

According to the Department of Health COVID-19 tracker website, there are at least 6,200 cases in Cebu City.

This is out of the 58,850 confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, of which 1,614 are fatalities and 20,976 are recoveries.

/atm