Tuguegarao city requests for ECQ lockdown; 30 out of 40 barangays infected

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan―Due to the spike of COVID-19 cases in the city, Mayor Jefferson Soriano sought to enforce stricter community quarantine status, thus requesting for approval to put Tuguegarao City under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) that shall start this January 20, 2021.

In a letter by Mayor Soriano to Governor Manuel Mamba, he asked that the entire city be placed under ECQ for 10 days beginning 12.01am of January 20, 2021 until 12.00 midnight of january 29, 2021.

This 10 day duration is subject to a five day extension or until February 3, 2021 should the situation aggravates.

Earlier, the Cagayan PIO reported that the LGU was considering a ten-day Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or 14-day Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).

The need to lockdown the city, according to Soriano, is due to the continuing increase in COVID-19 cases with a current number of 236 active cases. For the past 7 days, a surge of cases has been expereinced averaging 21 cases a day. And thus, requiring the city to be subjected to tighter quarantine status is one of the viable solutions of the LGU.

Based on the data from the City Health Office, most of those who tested positive for the disease were due to local transmission, in which 30 out of 49 Barangays have already been affected.

Meanwhile, Governor Manuel Mamba expressed his support in case the city is put under lockdown. He also said the Cagayan Provincial Government is ready to support and assist the people once the status is approved and implemented.

Tuguegarao City's ECQ proposal has already been submitted to Governor Manuel Mamba and shall be endorsed to the Regional Inter Agency Task Force.