Iloilo City extends lockdown to April 30, others keep open-ended policy

ILOILO City is extending its lockdown to April 30 following confirmed local transmission cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Mayor Jerry P. Treñas announced late Tuesday that he will be signing the executive order on the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) measures on Wednesday.

Mr. Treñas said the decision was made in consultation with health authorities, business sector representatives as well as Iloilo Provincial Governor Arthur R. Defensor Jr.

The city is administratively independent from Iloilo province.

“After due consultation with our focal person, DoH (Department of Health), medical doctors, City Health Office, some businessmen, and in due coordination with Governor Art ‘Toto’ Defensor, I will be extending the declaration of an Enhanced Community Quarantine in the City of Iloilo up to April 30 at 11:59pm,” he said.

The lockdown took effect March 20 and was originally scheduled to end April 14.

Mr. Treñas noted that the DoH has confirmed local transmission with the 4th and most recent COVID-19 patient linked to the second.

“Local transmission as defined by the World Health Organization indicates that the source of infection is within the reporting location,” Dr. Mary Ann Sta. Lucia of the DoH Western Visayas regional office explained.

As of April 7, the region had 36 confirmed cases, including four in Iloilo City and 13 in Iloilo province.

The others are in: Bacolod City, 7; Aklan, 6; Capiz, 4; and one each in Antique, and Negros Occidental. Only the island province of Guimaras remains free from COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Mr. Treñas said they are planning to convert the Iloilo City Convention Center (ICON) into an isolation area in anticipation of an increase in the number of persons under monitoring (PUMs).

“We are looking at the ICON, maybe we’ll need it as our isolation center when we see our PUMs increase,” he said.

The Jubilee Hall along General Luna Street has been designated as the city’s isolation facility, currently housing 10 persons under investigation (PUIs) and one PUM.

“We are already anticipating the increase in PUMs as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is also expected to rise,” the mayor said.

OTHER VISAYAS REGIONS

Other key areas outside the northern island of Luzon, where the ECQ has been extended to April 30, are mostly maintaining an indefinite lockdown policy.

Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia of Cebu in Central Visayas said on Tuesday that her lockdown order, which took effect March 30, intentionally did not have an end-date “so as to avoid giving false hopes to the Cebuanos.”

The ECQ measures have also been adopted by the independent cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue.

“It’s very early to lift the ECQ… I cannot even be cautiously optimistic about the results… A lot also depend on how the Manila situation would develop. We are all connected. We really hope and pray that the Luzon situation will soon improve and flatten the curve because unless that is achieved, we cannot hope to even estimate a date when our own ECQ would be lifted,” she said.

In Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas, Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez said during a Tuesday briefing that an extension of the ECQ, due to end April 13, is “possible.”

MINDANAO

In Mindanao, Zamboanga City’s guidelines, which indicates a lockdown “until the health menace subsides,” remains in place.

In a statement Wednesday following a meeting of Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar with the city’s health team, the local government said, “Health professionals in the city are recommending the continuation of the strict observance of the enhanced community quarantine.”

Davao City, along with the rest of Davao Region, has an ECQ in effect until April 19, but Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said on Tuesday that there is a “possibility that the city will be placed under an extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine (EECQ)” by the 20th.

“We are now planning on what will happen to Davao City and Davao Region after April 19,” Ms. Carpio said, “We are planning two things – one is Extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine or we go back to the ordinary community quarantine.”

She said the decision will “depend on the outcome of the 14-day ECQ” in terms of the number of COVID-19 patients along with the PUIs and PUMs.

Davao City currently has the highest number of positive patients outside the capital, including several local transmission cases due in part to a series of cockfighting events in March.

Cagayan de Oro City, the regional center of Northern Mindanao, has been under the less stringent community quarantine policy since March 20, but Mayor Oscar S. Moreno has been issuing specific restrictions on businesses and physical distancing measures.

A community quarantine does not have a blanket ban on both private and public transportation.

The mayor’s orders are on open-ended implementation.

In an April 5 reply letter to calls for an ECQ in Cagayan de Oro, including appeals from the medical community, Mr. Moreno defended his position by citing guidelines from the national Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19.

The Northern Mindanao Region as of April 7 had six COVID-19 cases, with two from Iligan City and one each in Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Camiguin.

“We hope that we will prevail over the virus without having a lockdown, the repercussions of which would bring serious irreparable damage. I want to emphasize, however, that we are committed to save lives. This is non-negotiable,” Mr. Moreno said in the letter.

“Cagayan de Oro is the host of the region’s hospital for COVID-19 patients. This is a responsibility that we have to live and deal with. Avoiding this duty will cause more harm to everybody.” — Emme Rose S. Santiagudo and Marifi S. Jara

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