MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) clarified that Central Visayas is still under general community quarantine (GCQ). 

“Region VII or (and) the province of Cebu is still under GCQ, except for Cebu City, which is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and Talisay City, which is under modified ECQ,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a virtual briefing on Friday, June 19. 

Vergeire’s statement came after online posts circulated on social media which said that Cebu province was under ECQ. She did not identify where the erroneous information came from, but some netizens cited a news item from a local news outlet. 

“Meron pong kumakalat ngayon na balita na ako raw ay apparently nagsabi sa isang interview ba o kung saan, na sinabi ko daw na ang Region VII, the whole province of Cebu is now under ECQ. Wala pong katotohanan ang nasabing ito,” Vergeire clarified. 

(There is news circulating that apparently I told an interviewer or wherever, that Region VII, the whole province of Cebu is now under ECQ. This is not true.)

Vergeire said that DOH doesn’t have the authority to give the information on quarantine measures as “it is only the InterAgency Task Force and Spokesperson Harry Roque who can provide the general public with this kind of information.”

According to DOH, Cebu City was placed under ECQ and Talisay City on MECQ because of the “increasing number of new COVID-19 cases and widespred transmission in majority of barangays in the City, as well as the consistent case doubling time of less than 7 days.”

On Thursday, 299 (53%) of the 562 reported cases came from Region VII. This is higher than the new cases from Metro Manila – 153, or 27% of all new cases that day. (READ: Philippine coronavirus cases now at 27,799)

University of the Philippines experts warned that Cebu province’s rise in new cases showed it was the country’s “second major battleground.” They predicted 11,000 cases in the island province by June 30.

Their study also showed Cebu City with a coronavirus reproduction number of 2, almost double than Metro Manila’s 0.96 at the time.

The reproduction number is a measurement of the virus’ spread that looks at the “transmission potential” of a disease or the number of people one positive case can infect.

A reproduction number higher than 1 means an infected person in a specific area can transmit the disease to more than 1 person. This is an indication that the disease is able to spread more rapidly in that area. Experts say the goal is to bring the reproduction number below 1 in order to say the outbreak has been managed.

As of Thursday, the Philippines recorded 27,799 cases of coronavirus, including 1,116 deaths and 7,090  recoveries. – Rappler.com