CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The provincial government is exploring the possibility of recommending to the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) that Pampanga revert to either Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or General Community Quarantine (GCQ) if COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
IATF has placed Pampanga under Modified GCQ from June 16-30.
In a public address, Governor Dennis Pineda noted that in a span of 10 days, additional 25 new cases were already reported – the highest increase recorded in the province.
One contributing factor in the sudden increase of cases is the resumption of travel of Kapampangan workers in Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces.
According to the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, 8 out of the 25 new cases have travel history in Metro Manila.
“We cannot immediately return to ECQ as we need our workers to travel and we also need to help restart the economy,” he said.
With this, the governor asked for the help of both the government and private sector in ensuring the safety of Kapampangan workers who travel to and from the province.
He said the present situation of the province shall serve as a “lesson” to Kapampangans to be more compliant to the protocols and guidelines imposed by the provincial government to contain the virus.
He added that if cases continue to rise in the future, other than ECQ and GCQ, localized community quarantine will be implemented.