BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Evelio Leonardia has ordered the closure of the borders here to travelers from the neighboring islands of Panay and Guimaras, starting 11:59 p.m. of July 21 to further contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Earlier, Mayor Jerry Treñas declared that Iloilo City will ban the entry of persons from Negros Island, including Bacolod City, and the Provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental effective July 22 “due to the rising number cases of Covid-19”.
“Given the existing circumstances in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, and also that in Iloilo City and Province of Iloilo, we are closing our borders to passengers coming in from Iloilo City, Province of Iloilo, and the whole of Panay, including Guimaras effective tonight, 11:59 p.m.,” Leonardia said.
As of Tuesday, Bacolod has 92 Covid-19 cases while Negros Occidental has 272 cases.
Both city mayors assured the public that the delivery or movement of essential goods and cargoes between Bacolod and Iloilo and vice versa will be unhampered.
Meanwhile, Leonardia said the city government is adhering to the recommendation of Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) on Covid-19, to sustain stringent protocols in addressing the health crisis.
“We will relay the advice of the NTF chief implementer to all concerned and surely we will give it due course. We know Secretary Galvez is in a strategic position to see the actual picture of our fight against Covid-19,” Leonardia said.
He said Galvez told him to “just sustain your stringent protocols to reduce your active cases to a manageable level” in response to his earlier appeal to Galvez and other key officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to retain the modified general community quarantine status of Bacolod from July 16 to 31.
Leonardia was also advised by Galvez to level up contact tracing and reiterated the use of mask and face shield in public transport, in a crowd of more than five, and in going to shopping malls and markets.
Mass gathering in confined space must be avoided as well as close contact and unnecessary movement, the mayor added. (PNA)
