Cebu City requires mandatory quarantine of residents travelling from Metro Manila

CEBU CITY, Philippines –Cebu City residents who are coming home from Metro Manila will now be required to undergo quarantine for 14 days.

Returning Local Stranded Individuals (LSIs) will be placed in isolation centers located in public schools in the city to prevent a possible spread of the coronavirus disease, said Councilor Joel Garganera, the head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Non-city residents will be asked to immediately proceed to their destinations and allow their respective local government units to decide if there was a need for them to undergo mandatory quarantine.

“For Cebu City residents lang. Giinvolve na nato ang barangay nga kailangan gyod naay letter of acceptance if ang LSI gikan sa Metro Manila. Kahibalo napud ang shipping companies ana,” said Garganera.

(The mandatory quarantine [for returning LSIs] will only be imposed on Cebu City residents.  We are involving the barangays on the issuance of a letter of acceptance if the LSI is from Metro Manila.  Shipping companies have also been brief on the matter.)

Garganera is appealing to all LSIs to be truthful in their travel declarations.

He said that mandatory quarantine for returning city residents is needed especially now that the city is already starting to recover from the ill effects of the coronavirus disease.

Cebu City’s active cases have already dropped to 1,350 while Metro Manila still has around 30,710 active cases of the infection.

Garganera said that City Hall has until August 31 to use isolation centers that were set up in public schools. After that, they will have to transfer LSIs to other facilities like the NOAH facility at the South Road Properties (SRP) or at the Cremdec in Barangay Taptap.

But there is also a possibility that the Department of Education will allow extended use of one quarantine isolation center per local government unit even with the scheduled resumption of classes on October 5. / dcb