CEBU CITY – Twenty-one Cebu City barangays with the most number of active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases are facing granular lockdown once an executive order is issued by Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, and confirmed by the regional Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), according to Environment Secretary and COVID-19 response overseer for Cebu Roy Cimatu.
In a July 21 meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and with members of the local business community in Cebu, Cimatu said that while Cebu City has been downgraded from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), there will still be granular lockdowns in barangays with the most number of active cases.
The granular lockdown will be enforced, and coordinated by the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and barangay officials in the following barangays.
Lahug, which has 38 actives cases; Guadalupe (29), Capitol Site (23), Talamban (23), Kamputhaw (18), Mabolo (18), Poblacion Pardo (17), Tisa (17), Sambag 1 (15), Apas (14), Labangon (12), Basak Pardo (11), Cogon Ramos (10), Punta Princesa (10), Sambaga 2 (9), Quiot (9), Zapatera (8), Banilad (7), Hipodromo (7), Basak San Nicholas (7), and Cogon Pardo (7).
Cimatu said that the Cebu City government must provide the needed provisions and other essentials for those barangays affected by the granular lockdown which will be implemented by the barangay chairpersons at the sitio level based on the Barangay Lockdown plan.
While the granular lockdown will be implemented in a sitio or purok, business enterprise or economy will continue based on IATF guidelines under the MECQ status, and the members of the Cebu City Council will be assigned to supervise all COVID-19 related activities in a cluster of five barangays.
The heads of the swabbing, contact tracing, and Barangay Isolation Center (BIC) teams presented a status report during the meeting. The IATF noted that it was the first time that a status report was presented after the IATC-Cebu organized a dedicated team to handle swabbing, contact tracing and BIC.
Cimatu pointed out that there were three weapons that would be essential in the fight against COVID-19, including finding out or locating where the virus is, responsive interventions and measures such as lockdown, and attitude of the people to cooperate with the existing protocols and guidelines.