Two more barangays in Cebu City are COVID-19 free

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two more Cebu City barangays are now free of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Councilor Joel Garganera, the head of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

According to Garganera, Barangays Duljo Fatima and Kalunasan have joined the 35 others that recorded no new COVID-19 cases for the last 14 days or since the shift to a more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

The councilor said this is a welcome development for the city that more of the barangays are no longer reporting any new cases of the virus. But the challenge to maintain this remains.

“Still, we cannot be complacent because the virus is still there and the game is really to maintain the numbers, to keep them low as we reopen our economy,” said Garganera.

In addition, only eight new cases were recorded in Cebu City on September 15, 2020, which is reflective of the cases recorded under the MGCQ, a clear indication that the spread is being controlled despite more people going out.

The low number of new cases is attributed to the cooperation of the business sector, which has proactively followed the health standards even if they have to stop operations due to active cases.

Read: Cebu City Gov’t expects more ‘voluntary suspensions of operations’ from establishments

More than 70 establishments have voluntarily suspended operations after identifying positive cases or even just suspected cases, allowing the EOC to swiftly conduct swab testing and contact tracing.

Read: 70 establishments in Cebu City underwent ‘voluntary suspension of operations’ since COVID began

The councilor hopes this compliance continues and the public themselves would also continue to comply with the health protocols to further reduce the number of active cases and increase the number of barangays that are COVID-19 free. /bmjo