DAVAO City will be placed under a 16-day modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) beginning June 5 until June 20, 2021, following the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
In a statement issued on Friday morning, June 4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the IATF approved the City's request to be placed under MECQ.
This was first confirmed by Department of Interior and Local Government-Davao Region (DILG-Davao) Director Alex Roldan to SunStar Davao in a text message on Friday morning, June 4.
Roldan said details of the implementation will be issued by the City Government.
In a press release provided by the Davao City Information Office, the City adopted the IATF order.
The IATF approved the recommendations of the Screening and Validation Committee for the reclassification of Davao City from general community quarantine to MECQ until June 20.
The city will be guided by the regulations for MECQ under the IATF Omnibus Guidelines dated May 20, 2021, particularly Page 9, Section 3 and the Department of Trade and Industry Memorandum Circular No. 21-19 dated May 14, 2021.
The Davao City Government first announced in an advisory on its official Facebook page on Wednesday, June 2, that it already forwarded its request to the IATF-Regional Task Force (IATF-RTF).
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio originally requested to place the city under MECQ for 25 days from June 5 to 30.
The City Government said it requested the national IATF to elevate the city to a higher quarantine status "to allow a circuit breaker in the surge of patients inside hospitals."
Salient points of the guidelines include limiting the movement of all persons to accessing goods and establishments and for work in such establishments (Sec. 3, IATF Omnibus Guidelines dated May 20, 2021).
It also states that any person below 18 years old and over 65 years of age, persons with comorbidities and pregnant women shall be required to stay at home, except for obtaining essential goods and services (Sec. 3, IATF Omnibus Guidelines dated May 20, 2021).
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Trade and Industry memorandum, pick-up and deliveries are still in full operation, while 10-percent operational capacity for indoor dining and 50 percent for outdoor dining are only allowed.
The City Government has called on those affected by MECQ zero operational capacity to coordinate with the Trabaho Dabawenyo employment assistance at the City Mayor’s Office Special Project Office at Magsaysay Park.
The City added that all public transportation shall be permitted to operate.
"We need to help our frontliners by making sure that we stay home except for work or business," it said.
In her letter addressed to Undersecretary Epimaco Desing III of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and chairman of the IATF-EID Screening and Validation Committee, Duterte-Carpio presented the Covid-19 cases in the city to support her request to place the city under MECQ.
“As of May 31, 2021, we have a total of 1,665 active cases currently admitted at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) and our Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities and Isolation Facilities,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio said there were nearly a thousand cases reported from May 23 to 29, 2021, with the city recording its highest number of cases at 198 cases reported in a day on May 29 since the start of the pandemic.
Davao City later broke its own record after logging 338 new cases on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. On June 3, Davao City recorded 248 new cases.
The Department of Health-Davao said among the factors for the record-high number of new cases is the heightened surveillance and intensified testing.
The mayor was concerned that the beds at SPMC are now at a critical utilization rate while the Intensive Care Units at SPMC and two private hospitals are already full.