DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said Monday, July 27, that she is hoping the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will allow the city to remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) on July 31.
But Duterte-Carpio said this would depend on IATF's assessment on the city's coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.
The mayor said the City Government will appeal once the IATF will give its initial Covid-19 classification. She said it is one remedy that the city can do.
Previously, the IATF recommended the city to revert to general community quarantine (GCQ) due to the increasing Covid-19 cases.
"Naghatag na sila og memorandum on how to appeal, once you get your community quarantine classification. Kung dili MGCQ, ang atoang makuha [nga classification], everybody should expect na mag-appeal ang City Government for that, because the city wanted to stay under MGCQ (We will appeal if the IATF will upgrade our quarantine status because we want to stay under MGCQ)," Duterte-Carpio said in an interview via 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She added, "Because ang atong target, kitang tanan, ang gusto nato mahitabo is [that] everybody goes back to their lives under a 'new normal' (Our target is we at least get back to our lives under a 'new normal')."
Based on the city's recent assessment, the Covid-19 cases in the city increased due to the resumption of commercial air flights.
The City Government was prompted to require a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result to all passengers bound for Francisco Bangoy International Airport (Davao International Airport) after the data from the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit showed that the highest confirmed Covid-19 cases in Davao City were travelers from Manila.
The RT-PCR test result is required before passengers will be able to leave the airport. Those who do not have an RT-PCR test will be tested at the airport.
The mayor said this measure is to regulate and ensure all inbound passengers are Covid-19 free.
Meanwhile, the mayor urged everyone to live "normally" amid the pandemic, while there is still no existing vaccine or medicine.