MANILA – The national government’s Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases has changed its mind yet again.
Western Visayas will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) beginning May 16, announced Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a virtual press conference yesterday.
On Wednesday, May 13, Interior and Local Government secretary Eduardo Año said the region would be under a modified GCQ beginning this Saturday.
Just this Tuesday, May 12, Roque announced that Western Visayas would no longer be under any levels of quarantine by May 16 because it was considered a “low-risk” area for the transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
What’s life going to be under GCQ?
Roque said minimum public health standards, safety protocols, safe distancing, and return-to-work protocols must be followed at all times.
The task force’s list of dos and don’ts includes, among others, the following salient points:
* Residents are allowed to go out of their homes. However, those aged below 21 and those 60 and older are prohibited from leaving.
* There is limited socialization. Gatherings of 10 people or less are allowed.
* Public transportation will resume, but jeepneys and buses must run below full capacity to ensure social distancing.
* Traveling (land and inter-island) to and from provinces and cities is permitted.
* Government offices will reopen but alternative work arrangements are encouraged.
* Essential sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food business, hospitals, and clinics are allowed to operate.
* Manufacturing services are fully allowed to operate.
* People can return to playing sports with limited physical contact such as golf, tennis and cycling. However, gyms and sports facilities remain padlocked.
* Film, music and TV production, repair and vulcanizing shops are fully allowed.
“Many local chief executives, governors and mayors, made petitions that they were not yet ready to remove the community quarantine,” said Año.
The provinces of Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, and Negros Occidental have been under GCQ since May 1 and this was supposed to be further eased by May 16.
On the other hand, Iloilo province and the cities of Iloilo and Bacolod have been under an extended enhanced community quarantine since May 1 and this was supposed to end by May 16./PN
