Duque: Spike of Cebu City COVID-19 Cases not ‘Second Wave’

The sudden spike of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Cebu City is not yet considered “second wave”, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said at a meeting on Tuesday.

He further stressed that what the city is experiencing is a “pandemic wave”.

“We do not consider the reason for the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) as constituting the second wave. It is still part of the first wave. This is a pandemic wave as matter of fact,” Duque said during an Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) virtual press briefing.

The DOH secretary also said the city is the continuing sustained transmission of COVID-19 cases.

The health chief, however, relayed that the national government expressed the confidence that they have in the city in terms of being able to improve its case doubling time and consequently be allowed to downgrade to a lower risk classification status.

Assistance and SAP

Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that no third tranche of the social amelioration program (SAP) assistance will be available for Cebu City’s residents despite the reversion of Cebu City to ECQ from GCQ and that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will assist local government units (LGU) through family food pack distribution. (GFB)