Cebu City downgraded to GCQ

Cebu City, Philippines—Cebu City, despite having the most number of cases in Central Visayas, will now be under general community quarantine (GCQ).

This was announced in a televised address of President Rodrigo Duterte that was aired Friday morning, July 31, 2020.

“Para mashorten and purgatoryo ninyo,” The President said.

Cebu City, as of the latest bulletin of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) on July 30, 2020, has logged 8,966 confirmed cases of COVID-19, among which, 3,268 are active cases.

Read: Labella: Cebu City is ready for GCQ; we are hopeful

Cebu City was placed under the strictest classification, enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), on March 28, 2020. It was downgraded to GCQ on June 1 then placed back to ECQ on June 15 due to a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

ECQ was maintained until July 15 as the Interagency Task Force (IATF) focused its efforts on Cebu City by sending Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to oversee the operations here.

After three weeks under Cimatu’s leadership, the city finally saw an improvement in critical utilization rate in hospitals, an improvement in the coordination between the national agencies and barangays, and a stricter implementation of ECQ guidelines.

Read: Cebu City under MECQ until July 31

Under the GCQ, more businesses will open and workers will be allowed to go back to their workplace under certain guidelines such as limited capacities.

The public transportation will return to the streets based on the permits released by the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

The granular lockdowns will also remain in the sitios where active cases are recorded. The barangays can recommend a lockdown anytime and the Regional Interagency Task Force (RIATF) will review such for implementation. /bmjo

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