N. Bacalso Avenue, one of the longest streets in the city, is almost empty in this photo taken on Sunday, May 31, 2020, a day before Cebu City was downgraded to GCQ from ECQ. Cebu City will revert back to ECQ on June 16 until June 30. | CDN Digital Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The national government’s anti-coronavirus task force has placed Cebu City back to a stricter enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Management of Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID), made this announcement late Monday evening, June 15, 2020.
“Due to the increasing number of new cases and widespread community transmission in majority of the barangays in the city as well as the consistent case doubling time of less than seven days, and the significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity, Cebu City shall be escalated back to ECQ,” Duque said, reading the resolution from IATF.
President Rodrigo Duterte has convened the IATF to give updates on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation in the country.
Duque said the IATF’s recommendations will take effect starting Tuesday, June 16 until June 30.
Rest of CV under GCQ
Duque also said the task force has upgraded the quarantine status of the neighboring Talisay City from general community quarantine (GCQ) to a modified ECQ.
“For the same reasons, Talisay City is recommended to be placed under (MECQ),” he added.
The entire Central Visayas region, on the other hand, was recommended to be placed under GCQ, effectively rejecting the request of Cebu Province to shift to a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Metro Manila, the other COVID-19 hotspot in the country, will remain under GCQ.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of IATF-MEID, said the task force will be closely monitoring the situation in Cebu City, due to the spike in COVID-19 cases here.
Cebu City was downgraded to GCQ last June 1. /bmjo
Read: Mayor Labella wants Cebu City under GCQ after June 15