DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 21 November) – The mayor of Davao City has urged Dabawenyos to prepare for a possible extension of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status until the end of this year.
“We can expect that before this month will end, the new community quarantine classification for December will be released, and much better if we prepare ourselves that we will still be under a GCQ,” Mayor Sara Duterte said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Friday placed the city under GCQ from what used to be a Modified GCQ.
The entire city was placed under Community Qurantine from mid-March, ECQ from April 4 to May 15, GCQ from May 16 until June 30, Modified GCQ from July 1 until November 20, and GCQ again until November 30.
The mayor said members of the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team are expected to arrive in Davao City next week to assist the local government in managing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
Duterte told the city-run Davao City Disaster Radio on Friday that the team, led by Melquiades Feliciano, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 for the cities of Bacolod and Cebu, is expected to recommend granular lockdowns in areas where widespread transmission is observed.
“Next week, the CODE team will (come) here. They are the same team working in Bacolod and Cebu, most likely they have recommendations for lockdowns… the CODE will decide which areas to be placed on lockdown based on their assessment,” she said.
She said law enforcement agencies are expected to assist during the implementation of granular lockdowns in certain communities or clusters or, if necessary, deploy additional personnel.
The mayor said there are no barangays, puroks, or compounds under lockdown, except for 248 houses.
“The granular lockdown is similar to ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine). In one area, whether it be a group of barangays, one barangay, or one zone, which has been identified for ECQ… Instead of the entire city, only certain areas with high cases, clustering of cases, high transmission will be on lockdown,” she said.
Dr. Alethea De Guzman, of the Department of Health-Epidemiology Bureau, said, at the meeting of Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team last Wednesday at the Camp Quintin Merecido of the Police Regional Office 11, that most of the new cases here in the past two weeks were reported in Barangays Buhangin, Barangay 19-B, Talomo Poblacion, Agdao, and Bucana.
As of November 20, Davao City reported a total of 5,607 cases out of the Davao region’s 8,070; Davao de Oro with 415, Davao del Norte with 901, Davao del Sur with 629, Davao Occidental with 113, and Davao Oriental with 405.
The entire region has 2,380 in total active cases, 5,389 recoveries, and 301 deaths.
Out of the 5,607 cases in Davao City, 1,894 are active, 3,465 are recoveries, and 248 are deaths. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
