Google Map of portions of Cebu City’s hinterland villages. Enclosed in red is the territorial jurisdiction of Barangay Taptap.
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Of the 80 barangays comprising Cebu City, at least four of them remained free from any documented cases of the coronavirus disease.
These are the villages of Sudlon I, Buot, Paril and Taptap, all of which are mountain barangays, said Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, Deputy Chief Implementer of the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID).
“From the beginning, four mountain barangays, which are Sudlon I, Buot-Taop, Paril, and Taptap, have been COVID-free,” Garganera said in a media interview on Monday, August 24, 2020.
Garganera said a total of 76 barangays have confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but 31 of them have managed to clear all active cases as of August 24.
This meant that the city’s total number of villages with no reported COVID-19 patients is at 35.
“It was supposed to be 36 but just today, our EOC (Emergency Operations Center), received news that one of them recorded one new COVID-19 case,” added Garganera.
The city councilor and EOC czar, however, begged off to disclose the names of the 31 barangays that no longer have any transmission of the virus.
He said they are worried that naming these barangays could lead to residents getting complacent about the threats of the COVID outbreak.
“Sometimes, when we say COVID-free, people tend to get complacent. And we all should take note the fact that from the start, we already have 634 deaths,” Garganera said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
“Besides, the barangay officials of these COVID-19 free communities know their respective situation,” he added.
Cebu City has been downgraded to a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) since August 1.
While the city managed to keep the number of new COVID-19 cases low as it entered its fourth week under GCQ, local health officials announced that work-to-household transmission has become a prevalent source of the infection. /bmjo