Valenzuela residents welcome to come home, mayor says

MANILA, Philippines--  Residents of Valenzuela coming from Cebu province are welcome to return home despite the rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Cebu City, Mayor Rex Gatchalian said Tuesday as he vouched for the city government’s speedy and effective targeted testing capacity.

Speaking to ANC, Gatchalian said four persons from Cebu province who went home to Valenzuela on Monday underwent confirmatory PCR tests and are quarantined in the city’s isolation facilities.

These residents need not be quarantined for 14 days, because the results of the city government’s targeted and localized testing should be in after two to three days, Gatchalian said.

The city government has five laboratory partners to process the swab samples taken in its localized testing.

“We’re not barring anybody from coming in. Valenzuelanos are welcome to come home. It’s just a matter of simply staying for 48 hours in an isolation facility. We just want to make sure that when they go home, they are safe and their families are safe,” Gatchalian said.

Returning residents also need to go through the barangay health emergency response team and the city epidemiology office for assessment.

The city government decided to welcome residents coming home not just from Cebu City, which recorded a wide transmission rate among its barangays, but also from the entire Cebu province.

Valenzuela, meanwhile, has suspended issuing travel authorities to individuals hoping to go to Cebu and Talisay cities because they are under enhanced and modified enhanced community quarantine.

As of Monday, there are 440 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Valenzuela, of which 165 are active cases, with 259 recoveries and 16 deaths.