CIMATU ON CEBU CITY: EXTEND ECQ, SMALL LOCKDOWNS
AFTER a week of assessing the coronavirus epidemic in Cebu City, Secretary Roy Cimatu is recommending an extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Cimatu also said Tuesday, June 30, 2020, that he is recommending the continued implementation of granular lockdowns even after the cases of infection slow down.
Cimatu, overseer of government's Covid-19 response in Cebu, said the granular (sitio or barangay-level) lockdowns would be implemented in areas with high incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
“Let's continue the ECQ because this is just the start. The first time the ECQ was announced, it was not immediately implemented—there were not enough police.
It was not properly implemented,” Cimatu said during Malacañang's virtual press briefing, Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte had given Cimatu one week to assess the situation in Cebu City and recommend how the national government can help address the epidemic.
Cimatu said the City Government has provided him and the rest of the National Task Force personnel now in Cebu City with an office at the City Hall.
He has created an advisory council composed of Department of Health (DOH) personnel, military and police, as well as members of the local business community.
The council has met and discussed specific measures to help enforce ECQ rules.
Cimatu said the government's
Covid-19 response in Cebu City is currently focused on 12 barangays with the highest number of infections: Sambag 1, Guadalupe, Camputhaw, Lahug, Basak San Nicolas, Mabolo, Tisa, Sambag 2, Pardo, Tinago, Labangon and Capitol Site.
‘Set aside politics’
For his part, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) agreed to undertake the following measures in Cebu City: Harmonize local government units, healthcare workers, business sector and religious sector; resolve the acute need of doctors, nurses and nursing staff; mobilize the national business sector; and prioritize Cebu City in the distribution of the second tranche of the cash assistance under the social amelioration program (SAP).
To harmonize all sectors, Roque said an organization similar to the Metro Manila Development Authority will be created.
He stressed the need to set aside politics, which has been identified as one of the reasons for the worsening Covid-19 situation in Cebu City.
A non-Covid dialysis center will also be established to cater to dialysis patients.
The DOH has started to hire more healthcare workers to augment the medical staff at private hospitals, which have been overwhelmed by the increasing number of patients.
The city's largest private hospitals have already expanded their capacity to accommodate Covid-19 patients. But with the increase in cases, DOH officials said Cebu City's critical care utilization rate is nearing the critical level.
The DOH also called on doctors under the Doctors to the Barrios Program to volunteer for deployment to Cebu City.
Cimatu said Covid-19 cases and mortalities in the city steadily increased in the past week.
On Monday, he said, 13 people died, which is higher than the national average of 10 to 11 in a single day.
Cebu City, currently dubbed the epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country, had 5,141 cases as of June 29. The city accounted for 14 out of every 100 Covid-19 cases nationwide on June 29.