‘Top 10’ barangays with COVID-19 told to report

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center has called the attention of the “top 10” barangays with the most number of active COVID-19 cases, asking them to make a report on the situation in their localities.

Although called the top 10, there are actually 13 barangays on the list as some of them have the same number of active cases.

The barangays are Guadalupe, Lahug, Talamban, Apas, Bacayan, Tisa, Basak San Nicolas, Banilad, Labangon, Kasambagan, Pasil, Sambag 1, and T.Padilla.

The FREEMAN got the information from the notice sent by the EOC to the concerned barangays.

The message did not contain the active cases per barangay but data showed these areas have tallied more than 10 cases based on the line list released daily.

In the Department of Health-7’s case bulletin last January 12, Cebu City has 414 active cases while EOC’s data showed 410 cases spread in 46 barangays and some facilities.

Guadalupe is one of barangays with the most reported cases, logging 38 on Jan. 12, but barangay captain Michael Gacasan said eight of them are already recovering.

Majority of those who turned positive from Guadalupe are medical workers who had also infected some of their household members.

Should the figure rise to 40, Gacasan said he might implement strict border controls in the barangay anew.

Gacasan said the cases started to rise again when the city government suspended the use of quarantine passes during the Misa de Gallo. He added that the security personnel assigned in his barangay also loosened up with their job.

Gacasan said the cases in his barangay are not limited to one place but spread across sitios. However, he said he is open to the idea of a lockdown when the cases will exceed 40.

33 Countries on ban list

Meanwhile, DOH-7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche said that aside from the UK COVID-19 variant, there are now two other known variants of the virus — from South Africa and Malaysia.

Loreche said the public should practice strictly the health measures as more variants are expected in the coming weeks.

Yesterday, the Bureau of Immigration expanded the travel restrictions to include five more countries starting 12:01 p.m. of January 13.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente,  in a statement, said they received an order from Malacanang that foreign passengers coming from Pakistan, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Oman, and the People’s Republic of China shall not be allowed to enter the country.

In view of the expanded travel restrictions, foreigners coming from or have been to the five countries within 14 days from their arrival in the Philippines shall be excluded.

Morente, however, said that Filipinos will still be allowed entry, subject to a strict 14-day facility-based quarantine to be implemented by the airport’s one-stop shop.

The added restrictions bring the total number of restricted countries to 33.

Earlier, the government imposed a travel ban on travelers from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hong Kong SAR, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain, United States of America, Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, Brazil, and Austria.

The restriction for aliens arriving from these countries will last until January 15, unless otherwise extended or expanded by Malacanang or the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Morente foresees a drop in the number of this year’s reportees.

In 2020, there were more than 77,000 aliens who filed for their annual reports.

“There are many of them who are currently out of the country and are not able to come back to the Philippines due to these travel restrictions. They can, however, still make their report within 30 days from the date of their return,” Morente said.

Under the alien registration act, foreigners who are holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas and valid alien certificate of registration identity card (ACR I-Card) are required to report to the BI within the first 60 days of a calendar year.

Morente added that aliens who do not comply with reportorial requirements may be meted sanctions, including fines, visa cancellation, deportation, and imprisonment.

BI said that some 15,000 aliens already reported to their different offices in the country last week at the start of this year’s annual report (AR) of foreign nationals staying in the country. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, JMD (FREEMAN)