CEBU CITY—The Cebu City government has distributed 178,000 quarantine passes, marked by QR codes that will prevent duplication and use for unscrupulous purpose while the city is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella said that the QPasses will indicate the name of the household member allowed to use it, as well as his or her address. It also has a QR code that contains information unique to the pass holder.
Under ECQ guidelines, there shall be a mandatory stay-at-home order for all individuals, except for those using the quarantine pass to buy essential needs like food or medicine and authorized person outside residence (APOR).
People with QR code passes that end in odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) can go out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while those ending in even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 0) can go out on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. No one, except for APORs, may go out on Sundays.
Since the QPasses were not enough to cover the 250,000 households, the city also had to allocate the passes to barangays under the “one Pass for every three to five households” scheme that created an uproar among some residents.
According to some Facebook posts, this scheme was the surest way for the transmission of the virus because the pass will change hands from one household to another.
Others were just exasperated at the way the Cebu City government has been managing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
As of June 30, the number of confirmed cases in Central Visayas has reached 8,660 with Cebu City having the most number of infections at 6,024, followed by Cebu Province at 1,158, Mandaue City at 792, Lapulapu City at 618, Bohol at 36, and Negros Oriental 32. Siquijor remains COVID-19 free.