Lockdown in 2 Boracay villages lifted

MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of enhanced community quarantine in Barangay Balabag and the “surgical lockdown” of seven zones in Barangay Manocmanoc in Boracay were lifted yesterday.

The two barangays were placed under stricter quarantine on April 1 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

With the lifting of the lockdown, the Malay municipal government said the entire Boracay Island is now under modified general community quarantine or MGCQ.

However, the local government unit reminded the public that operations of bars and food parks as well as live events remain prohibited.

Non-essential gatherings are still barred while curfew hours from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. is retained.

In line with the approval of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 of the request of Western Visayas local government units to bar travelers from the National Capital Region-Plus bubble and the cities of Davao and Cebu, the Malay LGU had earlier announced that Boracay would accept tourists only from areas under MGCQ.

COVID-19 variants

Meanwhile, health authorities detected new variants of coronavirus from infections reported in Ilocos Sur, Isabela and Apayao.

Ilocos Sur Gov. Ryan Luis Singson said a patient from Sta. Lucia town was found to have been infected by the UK variant.

In Isabela, the Philippine Gnome Center said it detected the UK variant from swab samples of two patients in Ilagan City while the South African variant was detected from a patient in Sta. Maria.

In Conner, Apayao, swab samples of two patients who recovered from COVID-19 last month were detected with the local P3 variant believed to have originated from Central Visayas.

The Department of Health-Zamboanga peninsula office also confirmed a South African variant in two areas in the region.

”We continue to evaluate if it was due to community transmission,” medical officer Aaron Jess Khalil Curay said. – Raymund Catindig, Eva Visperas, Roel Pareño