CEBU CITY, Philippines — Will the twice-extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Cebu City end on June 1, 2020?
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said there is a possibility that the ECQ will finally be lifted, but this will still depend on the recommendation of the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID).
So far, the IATF has not yet announced the fate of the city after the deadline.
“Yes, it is a possibility that we will lift the Enhanced Community Quarantine by the end of the week. It will depend on the recommendation of the IATF. If it will be an MECQ or GCQ, it will depend on the experts. It’s a very good sign that our cases are declining while our recoveries are increasing,” said the mayor.
He said that the city is continuously monitoring the rise and fall of Coronavirus case to determine what the direction of the city is after the ECQ.
The mayor has been meeting with stakeholders to discuss the situation in the city especially the business sector, which has suffered through the economic impact of the quarantine.
Still, Labella is hopeful as the number of recoveries in the city has outnumbered the new positive cases.
On May 25, 2020, the city recorded 174 recoveries compared to the new number of cases at 27.
Even though cases have risen again in Barrio Luz, which was supposedly lifted out of lockdown, the mayor said he is not discouraged.
He said the cases are already minimal and are mostly unswabbed individuals from contact tracing from past cases. The recoveries now outweigh the new cases.
The mayor said that if the trend continues, there is a bigger chance for the city to slowly graduate to the so-called new normal scheme and the economic activities can continue.
The mayor urged the residents to continue to cooperate with the measures against the coronavirus and pray that the pandemic will end.
Cebu City was placed under ECQ on March 28, 2020. It was supposed to end on April 28 but was extended to May 15. It was again extended to May 31 due to the increasing numbers of COVID-19. /bmjo