CEBU CITY – Based on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), this city and neighboring Mandaue City will be under different community quarantine status from Aug. 1 to 15.
Cebu City will remain under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) while Mandaue City will revert to stricter Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).
The different recommendations still subject for approval by President Duterte drew mixed reactions from the mayors of the two cities.
Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes will appeal the recommendation, saying the city has to stay under MGCQ, the most lenient form of community quarantine.
“We will be appealing this because based on the data of the Department of Health-Central Visayas, this recommendation is contrary to our current situation,” said Cortes.
Cortes pointed out that Mandaue has the lowest number of active COVID-19 cases and the lowest fatality rate in Central Visayas.
“Additionally, our city has the highest percentage of eligible population that was vaccinated,” Cortes said.
On the other hand, Rama preferred stricter community quarantine for Cebu City. “We should not be happy about it. We should be defending it,” said Rama.
With Cebu City staying under MGCQ, residents must be more vigilant against contracting the virus.
“Stay at home. If there is nothing essential, stay at home. The more we should not be taking any chance,” Rama said.
In the July 28 bulletin of the DOH Region 7, Cebu City had 2,355 active COVID-19 cases while Mandaue had 793. Lapu-Lapu City, which will also revert to MECQ, had 1,083 active cases.