The Cebu City government and the Regional Inter-agency Task Force (RIATF) on COVID-19 ordered Thursday evening, August 13, the lifting of the total lockdown imposed on 5 barangays here.

The lockdowns were lifted in the following areas:

• Sitio Eyha, Barangay Guadalupe; 
• Balaga Drive to Sitio Cekalco, Barangay Labangon;
• Tuada Compound, Barangay Tisa;
• Sitio San Isidro, Barangay Quiot; 
• C. Mina Extension, Barangay Mabolo.

The city government earlier imposed strict quarantines on 6 areas here last July 25.

But because it passed all the tests earlier, the lockdown on Abellanosa Compound, Sitio Kalubihan, Barangay Quiot was terminated last July 29.

All 5 areas now fall under the city’s less stringent general community quarantine (GCQ).

“This is also considering that the City Government of Cebu will continue influenza-like illness surveillance and enjoin the barangay officials to strictly implement health protocols in the areas,” said Ian Kenneth Lucero, head secretary of RIATF Central Visayas. 

Cebu City has seen a vast improvement in its numbers, two months after being called the country’s second “epicenter” of the coronavirus outbreak. 

The lifting of the lockdown would be implemented when the Cebu City Police Office receives the orders from the local government unit.

The RIATF said in a press statement that health agencies would continue to monitor individuals in and near these neighborhoods.

In June, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu was assigned by President Rodrigo Duterte to oversee the COVID-19 response here and to help get the number of new cases down to manageable levels. 

Cebu City eased restrictions early August after hospitals reported diminishing occupancies of the COVID-19 wards. New coronavirus cases also started to dip to double digits late July, after almost two straight months of daily reports of infections in the hundreds.

Its replication rate has also slipped to below 1 from a previous high of two, meaning that transmission rate has been halved.

Both the Cebu City government and RIATF agreed that neighborhood-level lockdowns would be the preferred strategy of controlling the virus’ spread instead of the citywide strict quarantines. Granular lockdowns allow the economy to operate after nearly 5 months of being shut down.

As of Friday, August 14, Cebu City has 9,314 total cases, reporting 22 new infections. While this is the highest number of cases outside of Metro Manila, its number of active cases is down to 1,701.

On Thursday, August 13, the total number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines was at 147,526. – Rappler.com