Cimatu wants Cebu City to remain under ECQ amid rise in COVID-19 cases

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the official tasked to oversee Cebu City's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has recommended that the city remain under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) after June 30.

“We have to maintain the quarantine level [in Cebu City]. Iyan ang recommendation ko kasi we need to stop the bleeding,” Cimatu, who is in Cebu City, told ANC in an interview Tuesday.

Cebu City is the lone Philippine city under ECQ due to the COVID-19 crisis, with its neighboring city of Talisay under modified ECQ. Under ECQ, mass transport, non-essential work and mass gathering are prohibited.

“Tumataas ang COVID-19 cases, tumataas ang number of deaths. Pinakamalaki nung isang araw, 13 deaths. Saka sa NCR (National Capital Region), 18 out of 100 lang na na-swab test ang positive. Dito, lampas 30%,” Cimatu said of Cebu City.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce new quarantine protocols for the country within the day.

A retired military general, Cimatu said he traced the spike of COVID-19 cases in Cebu City to poor compliance to ECQ protocols by the residents and the lack of policemen to enforce the quarantine.

Though the residents eventually complied with the protocols, Cimatu said the arrival of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and stranded individuals from Metro Manila overwhelmed the city’s quarantine facilities, resulting in more COVID-19 infections.

"Evident reason talaga [ng pagtaas] iyong pagpunta ng OFWs kasi ginawa itong transit area, saka iyong mga [arrival ng] stranded [individuals] from Manila,” Cimatu said, adding this prompted officials to use existing facilities to use as isolation areas.

To address this, Cimatu said bigger quarantine facilities will be established to prevent barangays from using its facilities as isolation areas.

“We have to stop this, kaya iyong isolation facility ilalayo natin sa barangays,” he said.

At present, 12 barangays in Cebu City are under hard lockdown. Residents in the affected communities will get food ration from the government to prevent them from going out to buy necessities.

Likewise, Cimatu said that the government has also deployed 32 medical personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines to boost the manpower of government hospitals in Cebu City amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They arrived last Sunday, using C-130 plane. Their team leader is a female major who is a doctor,” Cimatu said.

“Ang instructions namin, tumulong sila sa government hospitals. Sa private hospitals, we are talking with the business sector para masubsidize ang kanilang incentive na hazard pay,” he added. —KBK, GMA News