Davao City will be placed under a more restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), while General Santos City will be put under a general community quarantine (GCQ) starting Saturday (June 5) to cope with rising COVID-19 infections, Malacañang announced Friday.
This developed after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) approved the appeals of local officials from Davao and General Santos cities to impose stricter quarantine protocols within their localities due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Davao City will be under MECQ until June 20, while General Santos City will be under GCQ until June 30.
Davao City and General Santos City are currently placed under GCQ and modified GCQ, respectively.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte asked the IATF-EID on Wednesday to place the city under MECQ from June 5 to 30 as a “circuit breaker in the surge of patients inside hospitals.”
The Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City said its COVID-19 ICU beds have reached full capacity.
"Our ICU beds are full, all 87 beds — 100 percent. Our isolation ward for COVID is also at a very critical level," SPMC medical chief Dr. Ricardo Audan said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
The city, which has been placed under MECQ starting today (Saturday) has 2,214 active cases.
COVID-19 infections have been on the rise in the Davao region for the month of May due to the clustering of cases where people convened like in workplaces and gatherings, data from the Department of Health’s regional office showed
About 783 Covid-19 cases were recorded in the region in the first week of May, 754 cases in the second week, 961 cases in the third week, and 1,772 cases in the fourth week.
An alarming rise in COVID-19 cases was also evident in General Santos City.
The General Santos City Health Office has noted that the average testing positivity rate in the area is currently at 23.39 percent, higher than the 5 percent threshold set by the World Health Organization.
Other areas under MECQ until June 15 include the City of Santiago and Cagayan, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Puerto Princesa, Iloilo City, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Cagayan de Oro City, Butuan City, and Agusan del Sur in Caraga.
GCQ is imposed in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Abra, Baguio City, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Batangas, Quezon, Iligan City, Davao City, Lanao del Sur, and Cotabato City until June 30.
The rest of the country stays under a modified GCQ until the end of the month.
The Philippines logged 7,450 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total 1,255,337, as five laboratories were not able to submit their data on time, the DOH reported.
This marked the second straight day where more than 7,000 cases were recorded and the 10th day where more than 5,000 cases were reported.
The DOH reported 181 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 21,537.
The DOH also reported 2,382 newly-recovered persons, bringing the total recoveries to 1,173,006.
In other developments:
• At least 73 people tested positive for COVID-19 after the food distribution program initiated by Councilor Franz Pumaren in Barangay Old Balara, Quezon City. “The earlier we find them, the [bette],” said the chief of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit Dr. Rolando Cruz. The city government was able to swab 792 persons out of the 6,000 people who queued the long line in Pumaren’s food distribution. Some 14 individuals are waiting for the results of their swab test. Mayor Joy Belmonte said the event was a super spreader of COVID-19.
• The DOH said the average number of daily new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines during the past week was higher than numbers reported at the start of May. According to DOH Epidemiology Bureau director Dr. Alethea De Guzman, the Philippines averaged 6,691 daily new infections from May 27 to June 2.