ILOILO City – Foreigners from countries with confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are prohibited from attending mass gatherings here.
In ordering the ban, Mayor Jerry Treñas said city government is taking proactive steps to keep Iloilo free from COVID-19, which has pneumonia-like symptoms.
People with a history of travel to other countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has not completed 14 days of quarantine are also not allowed to attend mass gatherings, he stressed.
Just this Feb. 25 the city mayor issued an executive order suspending all major public gatherings up to the end of March.
Here are the other health safety guidelines from the city government vis-à-vis mass gatherings:
* Practice proper respiratory hygiene when at mass gatherings. This includes covering the nose and mouth with disposable tissue or elbow when coughing or sneezing. Dispose used tissue properly.
* Persons with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection such as cough and cold should wear medical masks.
* After contact with respiratory secretions, one should perform hand hygiene.
* The elderly, young, pregnant women and those with existing medical conditions should wear facemasks at all times.
* Organizers of mass gatherings should make available hand sanitizers and alcohol to the attendees.
* Organizers of mass gatherings must have medical and security plans approved by the Philippine National Police and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
* There should be medical teams and ambulances on standby during mass gatherings.
Two big events the city government recently cancelled were the Paraw Regatta (Feb. 23 to March 1) and the religious gathering RUN for Jesus 2020 (Feb. 27) with participants from South Korea, the country outside China with the highest cases of COVID-19.
The disease seems to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. The incubation period – between infection and showing any symptoms – lasts up to 14 days, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But some researchers say it may be as long as 24 days. And Chinese scientists say some people may be infectious even before their symptoms appear.
After a week, it leads to shortness of breath and some patients require hospital treatment.
Globally, more than 80,000 people have been infected. About 2,800 have died – the vast majority in China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
WHO has upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” Friday last week, its top level of risk assessment. But the United Nations body said there was still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission were broken.
WHO head Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stressed that fear and misinformation were the biggest challenges to overcome.
More than 50 countries have now reported cases of coronavirus./PN
