Cimatu: Cebu City may revert to GCQ in 2-3 weeks
CEBU CITY — Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu is optimistic that Cebu City may revert from its current Enhanced Community aQuarantine (ECQ) status to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) after June 30 following the implementation of strict border controls.
Cebu Governor Gwen Gar
cia on Wednesday issued Executive Order (EO) No. 17-H revoking EO No. 17-D that she issued last June 3 easing border restriction “relative to the entry of workers in permitted establishments.”
In the new EO, which will take effect at 12:01 a.m. today, June 26, the governor stated that there is an urgent need to reinstitute border controls as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread to different municipalities and component cities of the province.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) will be mounting checkpoints in the borders of Mandaue City in the north, Balamban in the west, and Cordova town in Mactan Island.
All barangays in the province were also advised to reinstall barangay control points.
“We’re also asking help from our barangays to disseminate that only authorized persons are allowed to go out,” said Col. Roderick Mariano, chief of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO).
More than 1,600 personnel from the CPPO, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other force multipliers will be utilized to man the border controls.
Improving situation
Cimatu currently heads Region 7’s COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF MEID).
In a press briefing on Wednesday evening, Cimatu said his team aspires for the 7-day doubling time to decrease COVID-19 cases in Cebu City.
Cimatu, together with the provincial and some local government units (LGUs), saw firsthand the city’s COVID-19 “ground zero” and reviewed and adopted the local IATF’s COVID-19 action to contain the disease in Cebu.
He said the COVID-19 situation in Cebu City is improving and has seen a decrease in the number of cases on Wednesday based on his actual inspection. However, based on his assessment, there are several aspects of implementation that need to be improved.
Cimatu said strict compliance with the IATF directives and ECQ guidelines, existing local policies, safety and health protocols under ECQ must be reinforced.
He visited the isolation centers/ facilities in the city and in the barangays here and said that he was impressed with the way they are being managed.
Cimatu also inspected Barangay Mambaling which is described to be the virus epicenter in Cebu City.
The IATF has started the organizational set-up for the barangay/granular lockdown of 10 barangays with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, namely: Mambalaing, Kalunasan Cebu City Jail, Barrio Luz, Labangon, Suba, Kamputhaw, Tejero, Sambag II, Duljo Fatima, and Basak San Nicolas.
Cebu City quarantine passes were also suspended on June 23. QR codes will be issued to strictly implement the “One-ECQ-pass-One-Household” scheme.
Frontliners such as health workers, food delivery service, and members of media are the only ones exempted from the lockdown.
Cimatu called on the Department of Health (DOH-7) to reconcile its COVID-19 data with the ones coming from the barangays for accurate planning and response.
He also urged the local government units in Cebu to account for the locally stranded individuals (LSIs) for proper quarantine procedures.
As of Wednesday, Cebu province, which has a population of 3.2 million, has 749 COVID-19 cases with 186 recoveries and 71 deaths.
Of the total cases, 492 are considered active cases with 121 patients currently admitted in hospitals. There are 135 symptomatic and 236 asymptomatic patients who are either in home isolation or quarantine facilities.