Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of the Interagency Task Force (IATF) in Cebu City, said there are 26 barangays that are being mulled for granular lockdown or sitio-targeted lockdowns of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected areas. | Delta Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The implementation of the granular lockdowns in Cebu City will begin on Saturday, July 25, 2020, as the city government finalizes the consolidation of the data of active COVID-19 cases in the barangays.
Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of the Interagency Task Force (IATF) in Cebu City, said there are 26 barangays that are being mulled for granular lockdowns, or sitio-targeted lockdowns of COVID-19 affected areas.
Read: Garganera named IATF deputy chief implementer for Cebu City EOC
“We have given the barangays 24 hours to validate the data on the number of cases in their barangay. Based on our data from July 9 to July 22, 2020, there are 26 barangays that have the highest number of cases,” said Garganera in an online press conference.
Although he did not reveal the 26 barangays, Garganera said most that have made the cut are the bigger barangays in the city with larger populations.
Still, the final list will be determined Friday afternoon and will be announced tomorrow by Mayor Edgardo Labella, who has the authority to place an area under lockdown.
The councilor said that the public need not worry as a granular lockdown would mean only affected sitios will be locked down. Major roads and highways in the area will remain passable.
Workers from neighboring sitios, who may need to pass through a locked-down sitio, will have a designated passageways open for them.
Residents of the locked-down sitios need not worry as well, as food supplies will be provided for the households enough to last the entire quarantine period.
The contact tracing will also be hastened to check if there was a spread of the virus, and if community transmission is proven non-existent in the area, the sitio will be lifted out of lockdown immediately.
Garganera said the public should carefully take note on what will happen to the 26 pilot barangays, as this would become the new normal COVID-19 response for all barangays.
If a person is suspected to be positive of the virus, the sitio, compound, or area the patient is from will be locked down until the results of the swab test are released.
A negative result would mean the lockdown is lifted, while a positive result would mean that the lockdown is extended to a few more days until the 14-day quarantine is completed.
“What we really want is to control the spread of the virus, but at the same time allowing the economy to slowly open,” said Garganera.
The councilor said the granular lockdown will be implemented after the announcement on Saturday, and all lockdowns should be set by Sunday, July 26, 2020. / bmjo