Cebu Province now under GCQ until August 15; MECQ for Apayao, Laguna and Aklan
MANILA – Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque today said President Rodrigo Duterte approached the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to place Cebu Province under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions from Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from today, August 1 to August 15,2021.
Also placed under GCQ with heightened restrictions were the provinces of Laguna and Aklan to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine from today to August 15,2021.
Apayao Province was placed from GCW to MECQ beginning today until August 15,2021.
The IATF approved the reduction of detection to isolation/quarantine interval to less than five days. These will include the conduct of active case finding in all areas with priority to areas with clustering, the tracing of close contacts of suspect, probable, and confirmed cases within 24 hours of detection of a case and the immediate isolation/quarantine and testing of cases and close contact as well as the use of rapid antigen tests for confirmation of suspect and or probable case and close contact.
RT-PCR testing will be made for those who turned negative on rapid antigen testing, the identification of areas with case increases or clustering by the local government units and regional epidemiological surveillance 8units and their immediate submission of samples for sequencing.
It has also been mandated that workplaces and establishments need to conduct daily health and exposure screening, report identified case and close contact to the LGU and coordinate for investigation and response as well as consideration for incentives in workplaces to encourage reporting and adherence to isolation and quarantine.
The IATF also approved the implementation of giving priority to facility-based isolation and quarantine to prevent household transmission, making readily available and accessible healthcare capacities and systems in preparation for case spikes, aggressive vaccination among Priority Groups A2 and A3 with corresponding efforts of vaccinating the A4 population should resources be adequate.
The IATF also called for strict enforcement of border control protocols in all parts of entry as well as the continuous assessment of the COVID-19 situation at all levels. A more aggressive dissemination of information on the variants of concern and expected actions to be made by individuals, establishments as well as implementers. (Melo M. Acuña)
Malacañang Palace. (PNA Photo)