RTF: Lifting of community quarantine rests on LGUs

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, May 12 (PIA) - - "The authority to impose, lift, or extend the community quarantine status in the provinces and municipalities lies on the Local Government Units concerned," said Director Dante Balao, regional director of the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) and the chairperson of the Regional Task Force on COVID-19.

He said, in the provincial level, LGU officials should assess their respective areas to determine if there are towns that need to be placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or General Community Quarantine (GCQ) on May 16 onwards while city or municipal LGUs should assess their respective barangays.

"If they assessed that a town or a barangay must be under either ECQ or GCQ, they must submit the proposal for the concurrence to the Regional Task Force as stipulated under Executive Order 112 signed by the President," Balao said.

He also clarified that proposal to impose or extend a community quarantine status in an LGU should be justified by the affectation of the area on COVID-19, specifically the number of infected individuals.

"No LGU should declare its own community quarantine, regardless of nomenclature, without observing the forgoing procedure," Balao said.

He further advised local officials to make necessary assessments of the status of their respective areas as early as possible to be ready on whatever quarantine level to be implemented with the approval of the regional rask force.

As of writing, there were 34 positive cases in Cagayan Valley region in which 31 were already negative of the virus and discharged in hospitals, one died, while two are awaiting laboratory results of their swab re-tests. (MDCT/OTB/PIA 2-Cagayan)

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