Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno on Thursday, May 27, called on the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to impose stricter quarantine measures in the city in the wake of the surging COVID-19 cases.

Moreno said the IATF needs to raise Cagayan de Oro’s quarantine level to general community quarantine (GCQ) because of the worsening public health crisis. The city is under the least strict modified GCQ (MGCQ).

His made the call as rising COVID-19 cases stretched the city’s hospital capacity to its limits. For days, people who contracted the virus have been waiting for hospital admission outside private and public hospitals, and in emergency rooms.

Moreno’s announcement also came hours after a former city councilor, Aaron Neri, died of COVID-19 on Thursday, May 27. Until his death, Neri served as the barangay chairman of Macasandig, one of the city’s most populous villages.

Moreno said that city hall has been flooded with calls from people who have been asking local officials to pull some strings just so they could be admitted to hospitals, but there was nothing city officials could do.

The city registered 111 new cases on Thursday, May 27, less than Wednesday’s 126.

Two weeks before that, Cagayan de Oro only averaged 84 new cases daily, said Dr. Jose Llacuna Jr., director of the Department of Health (DOH) in Northern Mindanao.

Cagayan de Oro has been under MGCQ since 2020, after the government eased restrictions following the first wave of COVID-19 infections.

Under GCQ, movements would be limited to the transport of essential goods and services, and work in establishments that are given authority to operate.

Under GCQ, people aged 21 and younger, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with comorbidities will be barred outdoors unless they need to buy essential goods and work in establishments authorized to operate.

GCQ will also mean a prohibition on mass gatherings, a 10-person limit on crowds during religious activities, and a significant reduction in public transport capacity. – Rappler.com