CAGAYAN DE ORO (Updated with corrections) -- Officials of the City Government of Iligan have asked the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to revert the city's status back to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) after it recorded a continuous rise in the number of local coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases.
The City Legal Office has drafted an executive order that calls for the return of the city's quarantine status to ECQ. The draft order was sent to the regional and national offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Health for approval.
The justification of the executive order has been given by DOH Regional Director Dr. Adriano Suba-an. Once the regional IATF approves the order, Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia will sign the final executive order that put the city under ECQ.
As of August 14, the Emergency Operation Center Health Cluster of Iligan City logged a total of 132 confirmed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the city, 62 of which are returning overseas Filipino workers (ROFs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and 70 are local cases.
Of the 132 Covid-19 cases, 18 are admitted in various healthcare institutions, 49 are in isolation in government designated quarantine facilities, seven are under strict and supervised home quarantine, 55 have recovered and three have died.
According to Dr. Belinda Lim, the manager of the Emergency Operation Center for Covid-19, the city's local cases started after a locally stranded individual (LSI) went home and did not underwent the health protocol in Iligan City.
"Gikan sa usa ka LSI, natakod sa iyahang family, unya ang iyang family tungod ga-trabaho gyapon, so before ang symptoms mogawas, nakatrabaho pa kay Apor lagi, so mao nang nidaghan na dayon," Lim said.
Another factor that contributed to the increase of local cases in Iligan City is the case of a Authorized Person Outside Residence (Apor) who had history of travel in neighboring cities due to his business.
"So naka bidding sya didto, naka deliver sya og mga stocks niya so pag-abot dinhi, nahimo sya'g local transmission but dili nato ma-identify kung asa gyud niya nakuha [ang virus]," Lim said.
She added that the Apor businessman has workers who were directly exposed to him. The workers went home to their respective families who also got infected.
"Pero frankly speaking, naa pud mi mga ni-positive na buot huna-hunaon wala gihapo'y history of travel or history of exposure to a Covid-positive patient. Community-acquired gyud sya kay dili naman nato ma-identify kung asa ang source," Lim said.
Lim urged all Iliganons and other stakeholders for support and cooperate in observing the protocols, especially the minimum health standards to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The Department of Health Center for Health and Development Northern Mindanao Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (Code) team is in Iligan City providing technical assistance in combating the pandemic, Lim said.
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(CORRECTIONS: The Iligan City Government only seeks for the return of the ECQ status. Its proposal still has to be approved by the regional and national IATF.)