AS COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Albert Ignatius Ferro said he will recommend the extension of the enhanced community quarantine in the whole island of Cebu beyond May 15, 2020 to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Ferro said depending on how things go, he may recommend Cebu’s status to be downgraded to general community quarantine (GCQ) if the cases go down by end-May.
Ferro said to avoid a further spread of the virus, the best thing to do is to conduct mass testing, especially in places with several Covid-19 cases.
He said contact tracing must be expanded and persons under monitoring (PUMs) must be tested right away; while persons who test positive for Covid-19 must be quickly isolated.
The PRO 7, he said, will closely monitor barangays with Covid-19 cases.
Ferro urged Cebuanos to cooperate with authorities to stop the virus from spreading.
Meanwhile, the PRO 7 is monitoring its personnel who were exposed to a police officer who tested positve for Covid-19.
The officer, who has a rank of corporal, is believed to have contracted the disease while part of the team assigned to seal off Sitio Zapatera, Barangay Luz in Cebu City after a lockdown was ordered.
The police officer is isolated in one of the schools in Barangay Mabolo, and he is monitored by the PRO 7 doctors. He also underwent counseling. (AYB / MMC)