Cebu City medical officers transfer the COVID-19 patients from Barangay Labangon to the isolation center. | Photo courtesy from the Facebook page of Mayor Edgardo Labella
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Barangay Labangon is now the third area in Cebu City with the highest number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
On April 27, 2020, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella announced they discovered 25 more patients from the village’s Sitio Callejon to be infected with the virus.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Labangon to 54, and 476 for the entire city.
“These patients will immediately be transferred to the Barangay Isolation Center (BIC) in Labangon Elementary School, where they will be quarantined and treated by the Cebu City Health Department,” Labella said.
The mayor also said the city will continue conducting its massive swab testing in order to detect the extent of the transmission of the virus.
Sitio Callejon
Almost like Sitio Zapatera in Barangay Luz, where over 130 COVID-19 cases were reported, Sitio Callejon in Barangay Labangon is an urban poor community.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Sitio Callejon is now at 47, comprising more than half of the village’s total count.
The other sub-village in Barangay Labangon where the virus has been reported is Sitio Sto. Niño.
The entire barangay has been placed under total lockdown since last week, and several residents from each of its 48 sitios reportedly volunteered to guard their area’s entry points.
But this instance led residents in Labangon to seek help as they find it difficult to move around.
In an earlier phone interview with Cebu Daily News, Labangon Barangay Captain Vic Buendia said his constituents need relief goods, especially those from Sitio Callejon where no one is allowed to go out of their houses.
“Our barangay workers also need protective personal equipment (PPE) to help those who are in lockdown. They are the ones tasked to do the purchasing of medicines and basic goods on their behalf,” Buendia said in Cebuano.
The village chairperson is also asking for more police visibility in their area to help apprehend those violating quarantine rules.
“Barangay Labangon has a total of 48 sitios. We’re definitely overpowered that’s why we need help,” he added. /bmjo