Palace explains why Cebu City went back to ECQ but Metro Manila still epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic
Malacañang said on Tuesday critical care resources of Cebu City due to coronavirus disease has almost been exhausted as more people have been infected by the virus.
This prompted the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases to recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte, which he approved, placing of Cebu City to enhanced community quarantine again. Cebu City is the only place in the country which remains under lockdown.
In a virtual press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Cebu City has 60 ventilators but 45 percent have been in use; 100 percent or 27 ICU beds have been utilized; of the 399 isolation beds, 90 percent have also been in use; and of the 133 bed wards, 93 percent have been occupied.
He added that out of the 80 barangays in Cebu City, 61 or 76 percent have been affected by active COVID-19 cases and of these, 13 are "worst-hit."
"Their testing positivity rate is 33 to 36 percent. This means, almost four of the 10 persons being tested in Cebu (City) are positive. Their transmission rate is 1.3 (percent), while at national (level), the transmission rate is 1.07 (percent)," he explained.
Roque said the doubling time of COVID-19 cases in Cebu City is 6.63 cases, which means within 6.5 days, the number of cases doubled.
As of June 14, there were 2,810 COVID-19 cases in Cebu City from 1,749 as of May 31.
Since Cebu City is under ECQ or lockdown, Roque reminded that the only industries which could cooperate are those indispensable, meaning those related to food and agriculture, export-oriented and business process outsourcing.
There are also few banks that are allowed to open, he said, adding residents in Cebu City are advised to stay home.
During the televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night, National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government would bring over 20 ventilators to Cebu donated by businessman Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp. and about 6,000 personal protective equipment
Roque said everyone is concerned about the situation in Cebu since it is the gateway to whole Visayas.
"If we can't contain the spread of the virus in Cebu City, there is a big possibility that it will affect other parts of Visayas and also Luzon because Cebu is also the gateway of Luzon in going to Visayas," he said.
Asked if Cebu City is now the epicenter of COVID-19 and not Metro Manila anymore, Roque said, "I cannot say that because Cebu is only one city, unlike Metro Manila that because of contiguity of the different cities and municipalities, has bigger area."
"So, I will not conclude that Cebu is the new epicenter; Metro Manila is still the epicenter with 14 million inhabitants," he said.
But he added that Cebu City has overtaken Quezon City with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.
Roque said the people should continue to follow the minimum health standards, like social distancing, particularly in Metro Manila so it could graduate to modified general community quarantine. Metro Manila remains under GCQ.
"Metro Manila is at the borderline. Seven means that the risk is moderate. We are at 6.9, okay? So we are at the borderline and the advantage of Metro Manila, because we are the capital, almost all the critical care resources are here in Metro Manila," the spokesman added. Celerina Monte/DMS
