MANILA – Bacolod City has appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) its community quarantine status from July 16 onwards.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the appeal will be tackled in the scheduled IATF-EID meeting before President Rodrigo Duterte announces the latest community quarantine status in various parts of the country tonight.
It was not clear, however, what appeal the city government of Bacolod City made. The city has been under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) since May 16.
On Monday, Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas said he appealed to the IATF-EID the city’s supposed shift to GCQ from MGCQ starting July 16.
National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said during a Malacañang briefing on Monday that the shift was due to the observed spike in new cases as well as in severe and critical cases.
“Nagkaroon po ng pulong ang ating IATF ng dalawang sunod-sunod na araw noong Thursday at Friday (last week) at napagkasunduan po doon na may mga areas po na mag-i-escalate [ang protocols],” Galvez said.
“Nakikita po natin na tumataas ang kaso ng ating mga severe at critical cases, at the same time ‘yung mga new cases tumataas din,” he added.
Residents in areas under the GCQ, except vulnerable persons, are allowed to go out while gatherings will also be allowed for a maximum of 10 persons only.
Public transport and inter-island travel will return in areas under GCQ but with strict safe distancing.
Essential sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food business, hospitals and clinics are allowed to operate in areas under any quarantine measure since these are services gravely needed by the public.
Manufacturing services are fully allowed to operate in GCQ areas same with film, music, and TV production, repair and vulcanizing shops./PN
