Cebu City shifts to GCQ

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, July 31, 2020, approved the easing of quarantine restrictions in Cebu City, placing the central Philippine city under general community quarantine (GCQ) for August 1 to 15, 2020.

The National Capital Region (NCR) and 11 other areas would remain under GCQ because of still unabated transmission of Sars-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Areas under GCQ are:

• NCR;
• Cebu City;
• Bulacan;
• Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal in Calabarzon;
• Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu; and
• Zamboanga City.

As recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the city of Talisay and towns of Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu would be under GCQ with strict enforcement of local actions.

The rest of the Philippines will be under modified GCQ.

For NCR and Calabarzon provinces, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the following conditions would have to be complied with:

• Imposition of strict localized lockdowns in areas with high number of cases;
• Strict enforcement of minimum health standards - physical distancing, washing of hands, wearing of face mask, wearing of face shield;
• Conduct of massive targeted testing using pooled testing scheme, intensified contact tracing and quarantine of close contacts;
• Isolation of confirmed cases; and
• Strict adherence to the implementation of Oplan Kalinga for confirmed cases.

Cebu City will shift to GCQ seven weeks after it was reverted to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) following the rise in coronavirus infections. (VoxPop Philippines)