CEBU CITY – In an effort to stop the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) here will not allow, as for now, children 10-14 years of age to go out of their homes, an official said on Friday.
Councilor Joel Garganera, EOC head, said in a radio interview the current situation in Cebu demands reimposition of stringent measures to address the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in some barangays.
Garganera said the city is not ready yet to have more people crowding in public places.
“If the situation subsides and we become safe, we will allow it. We are going towards the direction of new normal, when we have the vaccine,” Garganera said in Cebuano.
The city’s existing policy only allows people 15 up to 65 years of age to go out of their homes.
The councilor, however, said the EOC intends to abide by the rules issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the IATF has approved the recommendation to relax age-based restrictions for areas placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Beginning Feb. 1, only those below 10 years old and over 65 years of age shall be required to remain in their residence at all times.
But Garganera said the relaxed age restrictions coincided with the decision of the EOC to place many villages here under strict measures, as the Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas’ daily log showed double digit figures of new Covid-19 cases.
The city’s active coronavirus disease cases rose to 702 because of the 60 new cases and 47 recoveries based on DOH-7 data released Thursday night.
Garganera, however, said the situation is manageable as the Covid-19 positivity rate in the city is below the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of five percent to consider reopening a community.
“Only five of more than hundred beds in our hospitals are the ones occupied by Covid-19 patients and our fatalities are low,” he said. (PNA)
