The city government says only households or groups of households with confirmed COVID-19 cases will be placed under lockdown and not the entire community or barangay where the households belong.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The city government of Mandaue belied rumors that it will be implementing a city-wide or barangay-wide lockdown amid the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the city.
In an advisory on Tuesday evening, July 14, 2020, the city’s Public Information Office (PIO) clarified that only households or groups of households that have COVID-19 cases will be under lockdown and not the entire barangay.
The PIO said rumors of a city-wide or barangay lockdown have spread, “causing unnecessary panic.”
Quoting Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, the city government assured that “stay-at-home kits” containing relief goods and vitamin supplements will still be provided for households that are under strict home quarantine because of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
GCQ
Meanwhile, the information office added that Cortes prefers for the city to remain under the general community quarantine (GCQ) status after July 15 in order to control the rise of the COVID-19 cases in the highly urbanized city.
Mandaue, which has been under GCQ since June 1, has reported a total of 1,299 COVID-19 cases as of July 13. Of the number, 769 cases remain active.
The majority of the active cases, or 746 individuals, are coming from the community while the rest are cases from the Mandaue City Jail.
The city has also logged 492 recoveries and 39 deaths. /bmjo
Read: EO issued for Mandaue City’s GCQ guidelines