By Francis Allan L. Angelo
Except for Passi City in Iloilo province, Western Visayas remains under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the most permissive status amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for the month of February 2021.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced the updated status of the country Friday. He said the community quarantine classifications were approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Passi City in Iloilo province is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) — the strictest among quarantine protocols — until February 11 due to the 166 new cases of COVID-19 recorded there since Wednesday. Most of the new cases were market vendors and their close contacts.
In Iloilo City, the local government tallied 291 cases as of January 28, which is 9.4% higher compared to 266 cases from December 1-28, 2020.
The data also indicated that the city logged an average of 10 new cases a day, similar to the December 2020 average. The city also reported 10 deaths so far.
Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro logged the most cases in the city this month with 25 as of January 28, followed by Balabago, Jaro (19); Veterans, City Proper (14); Jereos, La Paz, Calumpang, Molo and Tabuc Suba, Jaro with 10 cases each; and Simon Ledesma, Jaro (9).
Meanwhile, Metro Manila and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) for the whole month of February.
Aside from the two regions, Batangas, Tacloban City, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Iligan City would also be placed under GCQ, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
The rest of the country will remain under MGCQ.
The elevation of CAR’s quarantine status comes after the region reported cases of the new coronavirus variant that was first detected in the United Kingdom. Twelve of the country’s 17 UK variant cases so far were traced in Bontoc, Mountain Province.
Department of Health data also showed the COVID-19 bed utilization rate in CAR (60%) was the highest in the country as of January 24.
Earlier, Roque said the government’s COVID-19 task force relies on data on two-week attack rate and critical care capacity to determine the possible quarantine classifications. (With a report from GMA News)
