BAGUIO CITY (PIA)--The National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has placed the Cordillera provinces in lower community quarantine classifications for the month of July.

Baguio City remains under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) but the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Kalinga and Mountain Province   are now under Modified GCQ until July 31, 2021 from the previous GCQ classification.

The province of Apayao is also placed   under a lesser stringent quarantine classification after the IATF approved the appeal of the Provincial IATF to be de-escalated from Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) to GCQ from July 1 to 15, 2021,

Apayao was under MECQ since May 10, 2021 due to the continuing increase of the COVID-19 patients in the province.

The province of Ifugao’s appeal to be de-escalated from GCQ to MECQ for the whole month of July also approved by the IATF-EID.

Ifugao was put under the second strictest lockdown level or MECQ in May due to surge in COVID-19 cases but it was eventually lowered to GCQ from June 16-30.

In the latest data from the Department of Health, CAR  has already recorded 39,907 COVID-19 cases. As of June 30, 2021, there are 37,912 recoveries; 1,240 active cases and 746 COVID-19 related deaths.

For the Hospital Care Utilization Rate (HCUR), the CAR is under low risk with an average occupancy rate of 45.7%.

Per area, Baguio City with 81.68% bed occupancy rates is at high risk. Abra with 28.57%, Apayao- 51.67%; Benguet -57.14%; Ifugao- 55.81%; Kalinga- 28.13%, and Mountain Province with 16.88% bed occupancy rates are all under low risk

Meanwhile, the DOH-CAR reported that as of June 25, there are 127,190 priority population in the region who have received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines. Of the total number, 42,728 are frontline health workers (A1 category); 42,673 senior citizens (A2); 41,008 adults with co-morbidities (A3); 673 essential service workers (A4), and 108 from the poor population (A5).

The DOH record shows the region has received a total of 230,200 doses of different brands of vaccines. (JDP/RMC-PIA CAR)