Cebu City to remain under ECQ until July 15

Cebu City will remain under ECQ until July 15, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte announced midnight of July 1, 2020. CDN Digital graphics | Rosalie Abatayo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will remain under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) until July 15, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in a televised presser midnight of July 1, 2020.

The President said the city continues to record a high number of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases until the last day of  June.

On June 30, 2020, the city recorded a whopping 353 new cases of the COVID-19, the highest it recorded in a single day.

Read: Cebu City breaks own record, logs 353 new covid-19 cases in one day

“Kining Cebu City pinakadaghan case. Cebu City lang ang kasali sa (ECQ), nagsosolo siya,” said the President.

(Cebu City has the highest number of cases. Cebu City is the only one under ECQ.)

During the presser aired by RTVM, the President also asked the Cebuanos not to be angry about the developments and instead follow the ECQ guidelines to help lessen the number of cases.

“Ayaw mog kainsulto kay Cebuano ko. I come from Danao Cebu. Kanang mga Bisaya talaga, maski sa Davao, yung mga bisaya doon, ang titigas talaga ng ulo. Hindi mo mapasunod. Yan ang totoo. Suko mo nako, eh di masuko pod ko ninyo,” said the President.

(Don’t feel insulted because I am a Cebuano. Bisayas, even in Davao, are really hard-headed. You can’t make them comply. That’s true. If you’re mad at me, I am also mad at all of you.)

“Cebu is now the hostspot for COVID kasi di kayo sumunod (because you don’t follow orders),” he added.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the Interagency Task Force (IATF) overseer in Cebu, already warned the city that its ECQ  will be extended since the guidelines have just been set.

Read: Cimatu suspects BICs may have caused community transmission, recommends ECQ extension

He said that the IATF is determined to get a better result for Cebu City.

Cimatu said that the city must reduce its case doubling time from the current 6 days to at least more than 10 days for any changes of quarantine to occur.

In a previous statement, Cebu City spokesperson Rey Gealon said the city has been preparing for an ECQ extension and that the local government is willing to assist the residents with relief aid during the extended ECQ.

Cebu City was first placed under ECQ from March 28 to April 28 and was extended until May 31. It was downgraded to general community quarantine from June 1 to June 15 before it was placed back to ECQ on June 15 due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. /bmjo