ILOILO City – For two weeks beginning yesterday, this city won’t be receiving locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and repatriated overseas Ilonggos. “So that our personnel will also be able to rest,” said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
The city’s chief executive cited the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. Frontliners of the city government should focus on these cases, he stressed.
As of yesterday, the city had 250 cumulative COVID-19 cases (151 local cases and 99 locally stranded individuals and repatriates), data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 showed.
Included in these 250 city cases were the 32 new ones recorded as of 11 a.m. yesterday. One of the 32 died (the patient expired before the test result was released).
Iloilo City now has seven COVID-19 deaths, all local or indigenous cases.
“I repeat: we will not accept sweeper flights and (ship) trips for two weeks,” said Treñas.
Future incoming flights and ship trips, he added, must be coordinated with the city mayor’s office.
“If these are not coordinated (with my office), they should go back to their seaport or airport of origin. Warning is hereby given…I will not allow you to disembark,” said Treñas.
Yesterday was the last sweeper flight and ship trip that the city accepted. A total of 116 repatriated overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and 77 LSIs returned.
The plane landed at the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo at around 12:02 a.m. Twenty of the ROFs were residents of the city.
Regarding the 77 LSIs, the ship ferrying them from Cebu docked at Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City yesterday morning. Nine were residents of this city.
Treñas announced, too, that all gatherings (including wakes, fiestas and parties, among others) are prohibited for two weeks.
Treñas further announced two anti-COVID measures. All market vendors are now required to wear face shields and masks and the curfew has been lengthened – now from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. from the previous 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
STRINGENT CITY HALL RULES
Treñas also issued Memorandum Order No. 191 instituting strict anti-COVID protocols at city hall. These are the following:
* All persons including APOR (Authorized Persons Outside of Residence) from areas classified by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases either as ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine) or MECQ (Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine) shall not be allowed to transact with any office at city hall unless he or she can present proof of completion of the mandatory 14-day quarantine and a negative RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test.
* No face mask, no face shield, no entry.
* All mail or parcel or food delivery must be deposited in the designated counter at the ground floor. Courier services or food delivery services are not allowed to enter offices.
“Appropriate disciplinary measures and possible charges may be filed against those who fail or refuse to comply with these directives,” according to Treñas.
The mayor announced these stringent measures while on a 14-day quarantine beginning Aug. 4.
“I was exposed to two or three coronavirus-positive cases,” he announced on Facebook on Tuesday afternoon.
Treñas told Panay News he welcomed visitors in his office on Tuesday and it was too late when two or three of them later found out their test results – positive for COVID-19.
The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.
These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
“Ang tanan nga may close contact sa akon ma-isolate man anay,” said Treñas.
The visitors donated boxes of personal protective equipment for the city government’s pandemic-response frontliners.
“I didn’t even know they were swabbed, unfortunately,” said Treñas.
The city’s chief executive assured the Ilonggos he would be more careful./PN
