The quarantine status in the province of Iloilo and its highly-urbanized city has been elevated to the most restrictive enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from the more relaxed modified ECQ (MECQ), Malacañang announced Friday.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) made the reclassification upon the recommendations of the Department of Health, its Technical Advisory Group, and the Technical Working Group on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Variants, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
The ECQ classification in the province and city of Iloilo will take effect “immediately” and will last until July 31, Roque said.
Data from the Iloilo Provincial Health Office showed that the province has 2,975 active COVID-19 cases, 349 deaths, and 11,087 recoveries.
Apart from Iloilo province and its city, Cagayan de Oro and the City of Gingoog in Misamis Oriental have also been placed under ECQ until the end of the month, Roque said.
The IATF, Roque said, also decided to extend the general community quarantine (GCQ) “with heightened restrictions” classification in Antique until July 31.
Misamis Oriental, which was initially under the most relaxed modified GCQ (MGCQ) classification until July 31, 2021, has been put under GCQ “with heightened restrictions” until the end of July, Roque said.
Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte has already approved the new quarantine classifications.
Davao Occidental, Davao de Oro, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Butuan City are under MECQ until 31.
Other areas under GCQ “with heightened restrictions” until the end of July include Cagayan, Lucena City, Naga City, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, and Davao City,
The GCQ classification “with heightened restrictions” has also been imposed in Aklan, Bacolod City, and Capiz from July 16 to 22.
GCQ sans restrictions has been implemented in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan, Puerto Princesa City, Zamboanga del Norte, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Baguio City, Apayao, City of Santiago, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Quezon, Batangas, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga Sibugay, City of Zamboanga, General Santos City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Sur, and Cotabato City.
The rest of the country stays under MGCQ.
Meanwhile, the provincial governments of Davao del Sur and Davao de Oro asked the IATF to no longer extend their MECQ status, citing the lower number of COVID-19 cases.