Cebu off-limits to travelers from Negros Island

CEBU, Philippines —  Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has imposed an immediate ban on the entry to Cebu of domestic passengers from Negros island via sea or air travel following the death there of a 68-year-old town councilor due to COVID-19.

The councilor who died was confined at a hospital in Dumaguete City and was believed to have contracted the virus during a visit in Greenhills while he was in Manila for the recent Philippine Councilors League (PCL) convention.

The ban on travelers from Negros was contained in Executive Order 5-I signed by Garcia, which forms part of a series of orders she has issued in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.

Last March 14, Garcia also signed Executive Order No. 5-G, series of 2020, setting guidelines on social distancing, cancellations and closures of events and communal activity centers, the imposed curfew and suspension of classes  to be followed by the mayors of the province’s municipalities and component cities.

For social distancing, mayors are tasked to implement social distancing in malls and religious gatherings. Along with this, they are to make sure that all commercial establishments in their respective towns shall have available hand disinfectants in their entrances.

In the EO, it was also stated that large gatherings be cancelled. This covers sport events, tournaments and other competitions, karaoke in public places and family gatherings to be attended by twenty persons. Even hospital visits to confined relatives and friends have been discouraged.

The governor ordered for the temporary closure of movie houses, pools, recreation centers, gyms, cockpits and other communal activity centers.

Restaurants, cafes, bars, service establishments, spas and parlors are ordered to close at 9 p.m. However, Garcia clarified in her EO that establishments rendering "essential services" like pharmacies and 24-hour convenience stores shall be exempted from the curfew.

A province-wide curfew shall run from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. with the exception of those delivering basic goods and services and health personnel.

Apart from this, mayors are directed to enhance the existing Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI)/Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) Surveillance and report any suspected PUI from Metro Manila or other areas with confirmed cases of COVID-19. JMD (FREEMAN)