Creation of Cebu City inter-agency task force vs mpox signed

Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia signed an order creating an inter-agency task force led by the City Health Department against the monkeypox (mpox) virus on Monday, June 2, 2025. 

The task force would “oversee the status of and monitor cases in Cebu City,” based on a post of the Cebu City Public Information Office (PIO).

The mayor also recommended for the City Council to craft an ordinance (or ordinances) addressing the matter, particularly an emergency plan for disaster to address the health concern, the post added. 

There are four suspected mpox cases in Cebu City, the mayor disclosed, but the patients are “currently isolated and there is no cause for alarm.”

Garcia said that the mpox virus is passed on through skin-to-skin contact. 

The mayor has assured that the city’s hospitals have been “more than ready for and aware of the virus as early as last year,” the PIO post further said. —GMA Regional TV