MANILA - The city government of Iloilo on Saturday said it would ask the Inter-Agency Task Force to be put under a more relaxed quarantine, following days of reduced COVID-19 cases.
“I met the COVID team this morning together with representatives coming from the business committee and we will be requesting the IATF to change the classification of Iloilo City from MECQ to GCQ starting Monday,” Mayor Jerry Treñas said.
This came a day after Malacañang announced that Iloilo City will be under a modified enhanced community quarantine until Oct. 9.
In an interview on TeleRadyo, Treñas said the city reported fewer COVID-19 cases for 2 to 3 days, attributing this to stronger protocols that were put in place by the local government unit.
“I think it has resulted well. The cases are now under control and we have done mass testing. We have done almost a total of 30,000 tests already and I think we are confident enough to request for a GCQ for the whole city, and we will start receiving already passengers coming from Manila and Cebu,” he said.
The mayor said that for a while the city was getting more than a 100 cases a day. On Friday, the city recorded 30.
Iloilo also placed 13 barangays under total lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.
The local government will continue to implement the barangay lockdown, not a city-wide one.
Under GCQ, Treñas said the city could open its economy while ensuring minimum health protocols are observed.
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