TUGUEGARAO CITY (PNA) – Now under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), this city will revert to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) starting October 3.
Mayor Jefferson Soriano on Thursday said the return to a stricter quarantine status was due to the rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases with local transmission reports in 19 villages.
“The MECQ will last for 14 days but it will be subject to the approval of the governor which is expected to be approved and the concurrence later of the regional IATF,” he said.
From August 26 to September 5, the city had also been placed under MECQ.
Last Tuesday, the city logged a third COVID-19 casualty -- a 72-year-old woman from Barangay Centro 1, according to Dr. James Guzman, city health officer.
The patient died after an eight-day confinement at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center. Aside from being COVID-19 positive, she had coronary artery disease, hypertension, and chronic breath obstruction. The first two fatalities came from Pallua Sur and Ugac Sur.
The woman was the fifth fatality in Cagayan province, and 28th in the Cagayan Valley region.
Local transmissions had reportedly started in a drinking session in Barangay Cataggaman Viejo, after which a non-uniformed worker at the Tuguegarao City police station turned Covid-19-positive.
Meanwhile, a liquor ban and curfew hours from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. will be imposed here.
Under the MECQ guidelines, the government requires strict home quarantine for all residents, with movement limited to accessing essential goods and services, and for work in permitted offices and activities.
Also imposed are suspension of public transportation, prohibition of mass gatherings, and limited operations of shopping malls and other businesses.