Despite increase in virus cases, Zamboanga City reduces quarantine status

DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – As of Sunday, May 17, Zamboanga City’s COVID-19 infections continue to rise, with a total of 157 cases, including 8 discharges and 1 death. 

Despite this, Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco has reduced her city’s quarantine status from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ). (READ: EXPLAINER: What happens under general community quarantine?)

“There’s nothing much to worry [about], especially now that we have two testing centers,”said City Information Officer Sheila Belen Enriquez-Covarrubias. The second center, the Department of Agriculture testing facility, was opened Monday, May 18.  

Climaco nevertheless called on Zamboangueños to continue with their “highest standards of personal diligence and responsibility to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities from COVID-19.”

Under GCQ, the mayor said transportation is resumed at a reduced capacity and with fewer routes, while curfew hours are still in place.

“The battle is not yet over; it is just beginning. Let us not put our guard down (because) the danger has not yet passed,” Climaco warns.

She added that the new normal will be “about us living with the threat of COVID-19.” 

Zamboanga City has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in the entire Mindanao. Davao City has the most cases so far, with 177. – Rappler.com