THIRTY-SIX barangays in Cebu City no longer have any case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), according to City Councilor Joel Garganera.
Garganera, who is also the deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Cebu City, said there are four barangays, which never had a single Covid-19 case since the pandemic began in March.
These are Taptap, Paril, Sudlon 1 and Buot. All are mountain barangays and sparsely populated.
On Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020, Garganera said the 32 Covid-19-free barangays are recent additions to the list.
However, the city councilor declined to reveal the names of the 32 barangays. He also refused to reveal his reason for withholding their names.
“Zero na na sila karon (They now have zero cases),” Garganera said.
Cebu City has 80 barangays of which 22 are in the highlands and are classified as rural barangays and 58 are in the lowlands and are classified as urban barangays.
City Health Department officer-in-charge Jeffrey Ibones said Garganera’s announcement was a good development, but he urged residents to remain vigilant and to continue following health protocol to prevent the spread of the highly infectious disease.
He attributed the lack of Covid-19 cases in these areas to the efforts of the City Government, EOC and the barangays as well as to public for cooperating with authorities.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, for his part, said despite the progress the City Government has made in fighting Covid-19, residents should not lower their guard.
It is high time to stay vigilant and strictly observe minimum standards of health protocol, he said.
On Saturday, Cebu City logged 12 new Covid-19 cases and 15 recoveries.
As of Aug. 22, the city had a total of 9,497 Covid-19 cases of which 1,255 were active. It also logged 7,619 recoveries and 623 mortalities.
On July 26, the City Government started implementing granular lockdowns.
Granular lockdowns are small-scale lockdowns or the locking down of only a particular household, compound, or sitio that is deemed to have the most number of active Covid-19 cases.
Garganera said that through this strategy, operations of businesses located within the barangay are not hampered.
Cebu City is on general community quarantine (GCQ) until Aug. 31. More businesses are allowed to operate in areas under GCQ status.
In a previous interview, Garganera said a total of 356 households and workplaces were placed on granular lockdown on Aug. 15.
The city councilor said the EOC has been looking at locking down a household or a certain floor of a building where a worker tests positive for Covid-19 to contain the disease. (JJL)