Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, chief of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), together with Police Major Juanito Alaras of Mabolo Police station, conduct a foot patrol inside Sitio Zapatera, Barrio Luz, which was placed under a lockdown on Sunday, April 12, 2020 due to the two positive cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the area. | Photo courtesy of CCPO
CEBU CITY, Philippines –Additional police officers, and 160 sacks of rice will be deployed to Sitio Zapatera in Barangay Luz, Cebu City as the lockdown in the area continues.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella in a press conference on Monday, April 13, 2020, said the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) agreed to send more police in the sub-village to ensure the lockdown there is being enforced.
Labella also said the city government will be providing 160 sacks of rice for some of the sitio’s residents who are ordered to stay inside their houses since April 7, 2020.
“The city government has decided to provide 160 racks of rice so they don’t have to go out, and we will add something more for their meals because of the lockdown,” he said.
“There will be more policemen in the area so that there will be no violation of the area,” he added.
There are around 9,000 individuals, or 800 families, residing in Sitio Zapatera, a densely populated urban-poor area in Barangay Luz.
It has been under lockdown since April 7, 2020, after one of them tested positive of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – and the first for Barangay Luz.
But on April 11, 2020, barangay officials have stepped up their efforts on implementing the lockdown after two more individuals were found out to have been infected with the virus.
The two new COVID-19 patients in the area happened to close contacts of the previously confirmed case. It was the result of the contact tracing conducted by the Cebu City Health Department, Labella said.
The mayor also said contact tracing is still ongoing in other parts of the city which, as of April 11, 2020, has a total of 25 confirmed COVID-19 cases. /bmjo