CEBU CITY – The enhanced community quarantine here has been extended until May 15.
The ECQ was supposed to end on April 28 but Mayor Edgardo Labella said the extension is needed due to rising cases of COVID-19 in this city.
“In light of the increasing number of individuals found positive of COVID-19 and based on the recommendations of our health experts in the city, I have decided to extend the ECQ,” said Labella.
“There is a need to extend our ECQ in Cebu City as COVID-19 cases continue to rise due to the fact that we have been doing targeted, massive testing of residents in the barangays where there are positive cases,” he added.
Labella said the ECQ will be lifted earlier than scheduled “once there is a significant decrease in our recorded cases.”
He announced the extension on the day the city logged the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in a single day.
Last Wednesday, the city recorded 139 new cases, raising the total number to 311.
Of the new confirmed COVID-19 cases, Labella said 123 are inmates and jail personnel at the Cebu City Jail.
Jail Senior Insp. Jay Ylanan, chief of the Health Service Unit of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-Central Visayas, said 114 inmates and 13 jail officers have been found positive for COVID-19.
One of the inmates died last Sunday.
Ylanan said the BJMP 7, in coordination with the Department of Health, has conducted an intensified contact tracing to detect other possible carriers for immediate isolation and treatment.
The DoH 7 announced that as of last Wednesday, 346 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Central Visayas.
The DoH 7 likewise announced that the newborn baby from Barangay Hipodromo, Cebu City has tested negative for the disease.
“The short span of time from birth and the supposed infection to viral clearance with the negative result can be attributed to a false positive reading. There are a lot of factors that could have caused a false reading. However, the VSMMC SNL has strict protocols to prevent such events. Results that are doubtful due to certain events should undergo repeat testing for validation,” the DoH 7 said. (Calvin D. Cordova)
