Mandaue mulls strictly enforcing health protocols amid rise in cases

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes says that the city government is supporting Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia's quarantine policy for returning overseas Filipinos and overseas Filipino workers. | Mary Rose Sagarino

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes. | CDN Digital file

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — The Mandaue City government is considering to strictly enforce the health protocols against COVID-19 amid the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases. 

As of July 22, 2021, the city’s total number of active cases is at 560 after 66 new cases were added yesterday.

Mayor Jonas Cortes said he would be issuing an Executive Order very soon on the extension of the effectivity of his Executive Order No. 19 until further notice.

EO No. 19 requires all travelers coming from the provinces of Bohol, Negros Occidental, and Negros Oriental that will visit the city to present a negative RT-PCR swab test result taken within 72 hours or a negative Rapid Antigen test result taken 48 hours before departure from their place of origin.

The policy took effect last June 15 and will end on July 24.

The Mayor said he planned to expand it to travelers from other places outside Cebu Island, especially those who had high cases of the virus and had a Delta variant.

“I think there’s a need to expand kay nagkasaka gyud, dili lang sa Bohol ug Negros. We should be extra careful karun. Makita gyud nato even sa ato’ng isolation sa Mandaue puno-puno. Ato’ng ospital ang occupancy nisaka gyud,” said Cortes.

(I think there’s a need to expand not only in Bohol and Negros because our cases are increasing. We can see that the isolation center in Mandaue is full. Our hospitals, the occupancy have increased.)

The mayor urged the public to cooperate in all guidelines to prevent further rise of cases. 

“Di man ta bout nga mubalik ta ato’ng quarantine status nga maglockdown. Magtingabangay ta, kung unsay balaod, mga circulars, executive orders, ato’ng tumanon,” he said.

(We don’t want to go back to the quarantine status where we implement a lockdown. We will just help each other. Whatever the law, the ciruclars, executive orders, we will just follow.)

Cortes again reminded the vaccinated individuals that the vaccines would only help protect individuals from severe symptoms of the virus, but they could still be infected and could still infect others.

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