Placing Cebu City under ECQ not a punishment — Año

MANILA, Philippines — Returning Cebu City’s status to a strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is not a punishment but to address the surge of coronavirus disease cases in the city, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Wednesday.

“Nagkausap kami ni (Cebu City) Mayor (Edgardo) Labella kahapon sabi ko, ‘okay lang na mag-appeal ka pero gamitin mo na period na ito mayor para i-lockdown mo yung Cebu City,’” Año, vice-chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), told Unang Balita when asked about Cebu City’s appeal to remain under a less stringent general community quarantine (GCQ).

(I talked to Mayor Labella yesterday and I told her that it’s okay to issue an appeal but he should use this period to lockdown Cebu City.)

“Hindi ito pagpaparusa ng taga-Cebu, ito ay para mabigyan ng pagkakataon ng makapagcontact tracing, makapagtest tayo at malagay natin sa quarantine ang lahat ng tao,” Año added.

(This is not a punishment for Cebu residents but to give a chance to conduct contact tracing, testing, and to implement quarantine.)

Año also noted complaints of hospitals in Cebu City on the increase of new coronavirus infections.

“Kung susumahin natin active cases nila ay nandun sa 2,045 at pag titingnan mo yung mga ospital doon ay halos nagrereklamo na sila dahil punong-puno na,” he said.

(In total, Cebu City’s active cases are at 2,045 and if you look at the hospitals there, most of them are complaining because they are swamped.)

To recall, President Rodrigo Duterte placed Cebu City under a stricter coronavirus lockdown again starting June 16 until June 30 after recording a high rate of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmissions.

But Labella said he will appeal to the government’s task force to instead place Cebu City under GCQ so that the city will not suffer further from the economic effects of the lockdown.

As of June 16, Cebu City logged 3,814 cases of the respiratory ailment with 1,924 recoveries. /MUF