IATF-7 Backs Lifting of ‘Granular Lockdown’ in 6 Cebu City Areas

The Central Visayas Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has agreed to the lifting of the granular lockdown in different sitios here.

Lawyer Ian Kenneth Lucero, head secretariat of IATF-7, said in a statement on Friday the six sitios previously placed under strict monitoring due to high cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have displayed notable compliance with the parameters set by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the designated Cebu overseer on government response.

He identified the six sitios as Sitio Eyha of Barangay Guadalupe; Balaga Drive to Sitio Cekalco of Barangay Labangon and Tuada Compound of Barangay Tisa; Sitio San Isidro of Barangay Quiot; Abellanosa Compound of Barangay Quiot; and C. Mina Extension of Barangay Mabolo.

“This is also considering that the City Government of Cebu will continue (the) Influenza-like Illness surveillance and enjoin the barangay officials to strictly implement health protocols in (these) areas,” said Lucero, a legal officer of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG-7).

The IATF-7 furnished copies of their Resolution to the national IATF-EID, Mayor Edgardo Labella, Cebu City Police Office chief, Col. Josefino Ligan, and all barangays officials to implement the lifting of the lockdown.

At the start of the general community quarantine, Cimatu recommended the granular lockdown to selected sitios in the 80 barangays that reported increasing number of coronavirus cases.

Labella also ordered the deployment of 132 contact tracing teams in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7, the IATF’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the massive swab testing.

Meanwhile, the DOH-7 has reported a total of 7,006 recoveries, which is 75 percent of the 9,314 total Covid-19 cases in the city.

Of the 1,701 active cases, only 32 percent (547) remains recuperating from coronavirus in different hospitals while the 1,154 who are diagnosed as having either asymptomatic or mild symptoms of Covid-19 are in isolation at different barangay patient care centers.

On Thursday, the DOH-7 recorded only 22 new active cases while 10 patients were reported to have recovered from Covid-19. It also reported two new Covid-19 deaths.

One patient who was admitted at the Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital died of Covid-19 on June 30 while the other died on July 31 at the Perpetual Succor Hospital. (PNA)