BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Passengers and employees must wear facemask and face shields inside the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced this policy yesterday with the expected lifting of the moratorium on the travel of locally stranded individuals and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on Saturday.
CAAP said this move is an added precautionary measure to stem the further spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The airport’s management started installing notices in the main entrance gate.
To recall, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson urged local government units in Negros Occidental to be ready for the return LSIs and returning OFWs.
Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier imposed the travel ban to decongest quarantine facilities here and in the province.
Gerhart Caelian, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division, said the suspension of trips for repatriates enabled local government units (LGUs) to accommodate local individuals identified during contact tracing in the quarantine facilities.
The moratorium was proposed after a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the LGUs, following the arrival of returning residents and also due to the limited resources and capacity of LGUs to quarantine them.
Meanwhile, Caelian said 13 first responders of the provincial government have tested negative for COVID-19./PN
