NUEVA VALENCIA, Guimaras – The provincial government of Guimaras has restricted the movement of people to and from this municipality.
There’s a surge in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) here.
Gov. Samuel Gumarin issued Executive Order No. 33, series of 2021 yesterday imposing stricter travel protocols to arrest the spread of the virus.
As of Aug. 11, Nueva Valencia had 78 active COVID-19 cases with 60 of these recorded in the last five days.
Thirteen out of 22 barangays of Nueva Valencia have active cases of the virus with the villages of Salvacion (25 cases), Magamay (24 cases), Pandaraonan (10 cases), and Poblacion (seven cases) mostly affected.
Gumarin said the restriction was taken to prevent further escalation of COVID-19 infection in the town dubbed as the tourism capital of the province.
“We have to act swiftly and decisively. Ang sitwasyon subong sa banwa sang Nueva Valencia is very alarming. Indi na naton paghulaton pa nga mag-balloon na naman ang cases sa probinsiya sang Guimaras para indi ma-overwhelm ang aton mga quarantine kag healthcare facilities,” Gumarin said.
All people in Nueva Valencia will only be allowed to leave their homes to access basic necessities, medical reasons and some meritorious grounds as may be determined by the provincial government effective Aug. 11.
Meanwhile, residents of the municipalities of Buenavista, Jordan, San Lorenzo and Sibunag are prohibited from going to Nueva Valencia except for reasons of work, medical reasons, purchase of essential goods.
A travel pass shall be required for those who will go to and from the town of Nueva Valencia.
To date, the province of Guimaras has 1,380 confirmed cases of COVID-19 where 145 are active cases; 1,199 have recovered.
The island has 36 COVID-19 deaths./PN
