Catbalogan under ECQ

TACLOBAN CITY , Philippines — Catbalogan City in Samar has been placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting yesterday following a spike in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 cases.

Gov. Michael Tan issued an executive order on the ECQ declaration, citing the 53 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the city, 36 of them medical workers at the Samar Provincial Hospital.

Tan said the hospital would be closed while swab testing of all employees and staff is ongoing.

Catbalogan City Mayor Dexter Uy bared that he was among those who tested positive for the virus. He said he is quarantined at an isolation facility.

Ninety-seven cases were recorded in Eastern Visayas on Thursday, the highest in one day.

The Department of Health (DOH) said the number of confirmed cases in the region is now 1,918.

The DOH regional office said five other medical workers are among the new patients in Tacloban City in Leyte.

‘Revert to MECQ’

In Bacolod City, a group of doctors wrote Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, head of the local inter-agency task force (IATF) on COVID-19, reiterating their appeal for the city to revert to modified ECQ.

The group of doctors expressed concern that more health care workers were infected and that hospitals and quarantine facilities in the city are at full capacity.

“We don’t want this to be out of control like what is happening in Metro Manila and Cebu City,” the doctors said.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia is expected to refer the request of the doctors to the national IATF.

3 streets locked down

As this developed, the local IATF in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan locked down three streets in Barangay Cataggamman Viejo after two residents tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Mayor Jefferson Soriano said Maramag, Atal and Pasicolan streets are considered ”containment zones.” – Gilbert Bayoran, Raymund Catindig