Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 16) – Cebu City residents are now more conscious in complying with health and safety protocols, the city’s vice mayor said on Thursday.
Vice Mayor Mike Rama noted that residents are now frequently wearing face masks and observing other minimum public health and safety standards including physical distancing.
“It is now a better setup than we used to be,” Rama told CNN Philippines’ Rico Hizon on The Final Word. “Stakeholders are very much connected and the trust is down to the sitios.”
Rama said the stricter enforcement of quarantine protocols in the city was spearheaded by COVID-19 government response overseer Roy Cimatu, appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on June 23 to lead the containment of virus transmissions there.
Cebu City reverted to the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on June 16 due to the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the area. But on Wednesday, Duterte downgraded the city’s status into modified ECQ at least until July 31.
Despite being in MECQ starting Thursday, Rama emphasized the city government is still implementing strict stay-at-home orders among its residents and limited transportation and business activities to further curb the virus.
“We can ease, but not much as we were before when we were in general community quarantine,” he said.
Rama assured the local government, business sector, medical sector, and the religious sector in the city are constantly communicating to create solutions in gradually reopening their economy without compromising the health and safety of the residents from the virus.
The vice mayor also revealed that the city is now prioritizing the isolation of probable COVID-19 patients, those who have mild symptoms, those who are awaiting test results, and those infected but asymptomatic patients.
“We cannot just, test, trace, and treat,” he said. “We must also isolate so that we can contain and curb the transmission of the virus.”
To date, Cebu City has 7,782 confirmed cases along with 3,158 active infections. It also recorded 405 deaths and 4,219 recoveries from the virus.
