Governor Dennis Pineda has requested the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for an extension of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in the whole province from July 1 to 15, 2020.

This came amid reports of increasing number of cases of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the province, which surged to 133 after Pampanga was placed under MGCQ last June 16.

Pineda said in a span of 10 days, 25 new cases, including three on Monday (June 29), were already reported – the highest increase recorded in the province.

Total recoveries is pegged at 92 while the number of deaths is 16.

He cited as one contributing factor to the increase the resumption of travel of Kapampangan workers to Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces.

Based on the report of the Provincial Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (PESU), eight out of the 25 new patients have travel history to Metro Manila.

“Hindi naman tayo puwedeng agad bumalik sa ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) [We cannot immediately go back to ECQ], 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 private sectors and government agencies to ensure the safety of Kapampangan workers who travel to and from the province.

“Nakikiusap po ako sa mga private sectors at government agencies na i-house muna at huwag pauwiin ang mga workers nila kung hindi pa lumalabas ang resulta ng mga test para hindi kumalat ang virus (I am appealing to the private sectors and government agencies to temporarily house and not to allow our workers to go home until the results of the tests have not yet been released to contain the spread of the virus),” he said.

Pineda said the present situation of the province shall serve as a “lesson” to Kapampangans to be more compliant with the protocols and guidelines imposed by the provincial government to contain the virus.

“Sana po maging babala at aral ito sa ating lahat. Bawat Kapampangan, magtulungan para malabanan natin ito (I hope this will serve as a warning and lesson to all of us. Every Kapampangan must help each other in order to fight this),” he said.

Pineda said if the number of cases will continue to rise in the future, other than ECQ and GCQ, localized community quarantine will have to be implemented. (PNA)