OVP sends team to aid Cebu City in COVID-19 response

The Office of Vice President Leni Robredo has sent a team to Cebu City to assess the needs of the community amid rising COVID-19 cases there, Vice President Robredo said Thursday.

“Our team for Bayanihan Sugbuanon leaves for Cebu today, where they will lead the OVP COVID-19 response operations. Sending them off with lots of prayers and a sense of pride over our young, dynamic team—parating handa, basta para sa bayan,” Robredo said in statement.

“We'd also like to thank everyone who is volunteering for our response operations in Cebu. Details on the initiatives will be out soon, once our team has assessed the most urgent needs in the area,” Robredo added.

Aside from aiding Cebu City, the OVP’s COVID-19 response initiatives include:

• at least P53 million worth of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), both made abroad and locally, to frontliners
• P15 million worth of hot meals for frontliners and vulnerable communities
• shuttle service for frontliners
• temporary shelters for health workers located in Lung Center of the Philippines and Quirino Memorial Medical Center
• medical supplies such as alcohol, sanitizer, surgical masks, face shields, gloves, acrylic boxes for hospitals
• dorms for frontliners
• free haircut for frontliners
• P19 million worth of extraction kits good for conducting 22,000 COVID-19 tests
• P12 million worth of relief packs containing vegetables, face masks and mattresses for vulnerable communities
• transportation assistance to 1,789 locally stranded individuals
• community mart with tricycle drivers Quezon City and Pasig City serving as delivery personnel
• donation drive for gadgets and other equipment for distance learning
• establishment of learning hubs for distance learning, among others.

According to Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, the city has 2,699 active COVID-19 cases and 2,897 COVID-19 recoveries as of July 2.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. also said on Thursday that the spike in cases was due to inefficient home quarantine for COVID-19 cases and poor contact tracing.

Cebu City is the lone area in the country under enhanced community quarantine, a protocol that bans non-essential work and mass transport. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA News