A shot of the Cebu City skyline. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A key figure in the business sector here urged fellow businessmen and employers to institute discipline within their establishments as COVID-19 cases here rise due to the presence of the more transmissible Delta variant.
Felix Taguiam, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president, said they advised members of the private sectors to police their own operations and employees.
“In order to further prevent the spread of Delta variant, I would really say that we, in the business sector, should discipline our ranks nowadays,” said Taguiam on Sunday, August 8.
Taguiam attended the ceremonial blessing and ribbon-cutting of the city’s new isolation facility for COVID-19 patients, which is housed in the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) on Sunday.
He was expected to join another round of the city government’s ‘multi-sectoral meeting’ in addressing the issues arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, especially in regards to the Delta variant.
Taguiam also told reporters that the business climate in the city dampened when it was placed under stricter community quarantine status due to the rising cases of COVID-19.
“We really don’t like to have MECQ. But due to the rising cases here, it’s time for us to start policing our own,” he said.
“When it was announced that we will be back to MECQ starting last August 1, everyone’s been trying to do their health protocols, and we have to make sure within our own ranks, we have to be very, very careful,” he added.
Cebu City is considered the center of commercial and economic activities in the entire Visayas-Mindanao region.
With over 1,000 members, CCCI is the largest business-oriented group here, and second in the entire country — next to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) placed the three largest cities of Cebu — Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue — under MECQ, from August 1 to August 15, due to rapid transmission of the virus.
Hospitals, and even funeral parlors here, have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and mortalities related to the infection.
Cebu City has decided to open another isolation facility in case its existing quarantine centers can no longer accommodate asymptomatic patients.
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