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Iligan City extends ECQ to April 30

By Riz Sunio

April 9, 2020, 8:24 pm

<p>Google map  of Iligan City.</p>

Google map  of Iligan City.

ILIGAN CITY – The local government here announced Thursday the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to April 30 as a measure to further contain the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In an executive order, Mayor Celso Regencia cited the recommendation of Iligan Medical Society (IMS) and Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) to support the extension of the ECQ in the city “to protect the gains made by the city’s overall response to the [coronavirus] pandemic.”

In a text message to the Philippine News Agency, Dr. Sukarno Tanggol, MSU-IIT chancellor, said the recommendation to extend the ECQ was based on the findings of Dr. Franco Teves, an MSU-IIT’s bio-risk and safety officer.

Teves is also the Covid-19 task force chairperson, and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Tanggol said that aside from Teves, Dr. Wolfgang Bock, a visiting professor from Germany, has also recommended the extension of the ECQ.

MSU-IIT has created a team to study the spread of coronavirus called Modeling Corona Spread (Mocos).

“[The] Mocos Team I have created [is] composed of various experts to continue doing mathematical modeling on Covid in Iligan, in particular. It is headed by a physicist, Dr. Jinky Bornales, our VCRE (vice-chancellor for research and extension),” Tanggol said.

Meanwhile, the local government said the Iligan City National High School will be turned into patient care center for the PUIs and PUMs in the city to prevent further transmission of the virus.

Curfew schedules were also returned to 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

All other measures and prohibitions contained in the two previous executive orders for the ECQ still stand, Regencia said.

Regencia also assured the city's food supply remains sufficient, adding a series of rice distribution is scheduled within the week.

“The city residents will not go hungry because funds are available,” the mayor said in the dialect.

As of Wednesday, Iligan City only has seven PUIs and no PUMs.

Four cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the city, two of whom have already died and one has recovered. (PNA)                       

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