CEBU CITY – A town in northern Cebu has been placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) as new COVID-19 infections continue to rise in the province.
Sogod Mayor Richard Streegan issued an Executive Order (EO), placing the town under "MECQ with heightened restrictions" with the approval of the Cebu Provincial Government and the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force.
Sogod, a fourth class municipality, is the 12th town to be under MECQ. With a population of at least 39,000 people, Sogod is known for its white sand beaches.
“In spite of the implementation of the (Executive Order No. 35 issued by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia defining the guidelines and protocols for General Community Quarantine), the Municipality of Sogod still experienced a spike of active cases of COVID-19 and COVID-19 related mortality in this month of August,” portions of Streegan’s EO read.
Under MECQ, several business establishments in Sogod were ordered closed including entertainment and recreational venues, outdoor and indoor sports venues, cockfighting arenas, outdoor and indoor tourist attractions, among others.
Cebu will be under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until September 7 but Governor Gwendolyn Garcia placed areas with high cases of COVID-19 under MECQ.
Aside from Sogod, other areas placed under MECQ are the towns of Samboan, Sibonga, Argao, Cordova, Oslob, Liloan, Consolacion and Minglanilla, as well as the cities of Talisay, Carcar and Naga.
Cebu, composed of 44 towns and six component cities, had the most active COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas with 5,620 based on the August 30 data from the Department of Health Central Visayas.