CEBU CITY – Environment Secretary and Cebu coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response overseer Roy Cimatu told local businessmen here that there is a possibility that Cebu City could be placed under general community quarantine by August 1.
Cimatu made the disclosure in a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) with members of the local business community in Cebu Tuesday.
Cimatu’s upbeat assessment on the COVID-19 situation here came after the positive reports of the IATF and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 that worked hard to implement all possible measures to address the health situation in the city and breathe life into its economy.
"We are making progress now because of contact tracing. I am expecting na bababa ang cases sa Cebu City by next week. So, hopefully by the end of the month, we'll go down to GCQ,” Cimatu said.
Cebu City has moved from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) July 1 to July 15, and is now under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Felix Taguiam said Cimatu’s assessment could come at no better time, and expressed optimism that this will bolster Cebu City’s efforts to bounce back.
"Most of the business owners in the City are traders. The Chamber has 391 members, and right now I already received 92 requests for closure,” Taguiam said.
He added that businesses were now more health conscious, and better equipped to cope with safety protocols when the economy is reopened.
According to retired MGen. Mel Feliciano, who is assisting Cimatu in Cebu, the IATF will be reviewing the "Project Balik Buhay (PBB)”, a joint initiative of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), Department of Health (DOH-7), local government units in Cebu and the private sector.
The project aims to gradually re-open the community through a calibrated, scientific, and evidence-based transition from ECQ to GCQ.
Feleciano said that the IATF was meeting with the business sector to explore how it can integrate PBB into policy direction so that the needs of the communities, especially the workers whose jobs were greatly affected by the pandemic, can be addressed appropriately.
The dialogue also provided the IATF and business owners an opportunity to share best practices and recommendations on how the city can best move forward in anticipation of a transition to a more relaxed community quarantine.