City lifts lockdown on Bacayan, Labangon sitio

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government has lifted the lockdown on Barangay Bacayan and on sitio Callejon in Barangay Labangon.

To recall, the Department of Health (DOH) recommended that at least eight barangays in Cebu City remain on enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) even as the city and the rest of Cebu have transitioned to general community quarantine (GCQ) on June 1, 2020.

These were Barangays Luz, Bacayan, Carreta, Sawang Calero, Suba, Tejero, Labangon, and Mambaling.

Yesterday, Mayor Edgardo Labella issued Memorandum 2020-300 and Memorandum 2020-302, which ordered City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr.; the Philippine National Police; and the Cebu City Risk Reduction and Management Office to implement necessary measures to lift the lockdown.

It was in April 2020 when Labangon locked sitio Callejon after recording its first COVID-19 case.

“You are hereby directed to implement the necessary measures to effectively lift the lockdown in Sitio Callejon, Barangay Labangon based on the following grounds: No COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the sitio; Majority of the COVID-19 positive residents have recovered; and the last reported COVID-19 positive case was in April 30, 2020,” the memorandum 2020-300 reads.

The memorandum is in recognition of the recommendation of the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) dated May 27, 2020.

Last Sunday, Barangay Captain Vic Buendia decided to lift the lockdown in Labangon.

“You are hereby directed to implement the necessary measures to effectively lift the area-specific lockdown in Barangay Bacayan based on the following grounds: There are zero active cases in the area; and those reported cases in the area have already tested negative (non-reactive),” Memorandum 2020-302 reads.

CCHD recommended to lift the area-specific lockdown in Barangay Bacayan last May 28, 2020.

City Legal Officer Rey Gealon has said that lifting a lockdown will be based on the recommendation of city health officials after assessment show that the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the area has lowered.

The CHD recommendation will be sent to the Incident Command System (ICS), which will come up with a resolution requesting the mayor to lift the lockdown.

The mayor will then issue a memorandum to lift the lockdown.

As of yesterday, the total number of positive cases in Cebu City has already reached 2,450. Of which, 1,246 are active cases.

While it has reached to 1,176 the total number of recovered patients in the city.  JMO (FREEMAN)