LOCKDOWN. Passi City in Iloilo province is on lockdown from January 28 until February 11, 2021 due to increasing coronavirus disease 2019 cases. Mayor Stephen Palmares announced Wednesday night (Jan. 27, 2021). that, as per data from the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO), the city has 77 new confirmed cases as of Wednesday. (Photo by LGU Passi City)
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo province’s component city of Passi returned to a more stringent enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting 6 a.m. Thursday to address the increasing cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The strict quarantine measure was announced by Mayor Stephen A. Palmares after a meeting with members of the City Task Force on Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Wednesday night.
Being a component city of Iloilo province, Passi used to be under the lenient modified general community quarantine.
“Initially, we have received information that the confirmed Covid-19 positive as of 2:30 in the afternoon today (Wednesday) is 84 and just this evening it reached more than 100. This is the highest recorded confirmed Covid-19 cases in the city in a single day,” said Palmares.
The ECQ lockdown will end midnight of Feb. 11 based on the announcement on the official Facebook page of the local government unit.
Being a component city of Iloilo province, Passi used to be under
With the ECQ, the mayor said all establishments, except those that provide food, water, and other related necessities, will be closed.
Specifically, restaurants, fast food chains, and food stalls will also be shut.
Those that provide for health needs such as hospitals, medical clinics, medical facilities, diagnostic centers and laboratories, dental clinics, pharmacies, and drug stores are allowed to operate.
Markets are allowed to open daily but the scheduled market day every Monday is suspended.
Factories and plants engaged in the manufacturing, processing, and storage of basic food producers and health needs; banks, pawnshops, money transfer services, and payment and remittance centers will be allowed to operate as well.
He added that all public utilities providing transportation, power, energy, water, telecommunications, and cargo handlings, agricultural supply stores, gasoline stations, LPG stores, and all funeral businesses are also allowed to open under ECQ but no public viewing and wakes.
Selling, furnishing, offering, buying, serving, dispensing, and transporting of alcoholic beverages are also prohibited in the city.
Being at the center, people from Iloilo City and the provinces of Guimaras, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz are allowed to pass through Passi City but the entry of non-residents is prohibited.
Curfew hours will be implemented from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. on the following day.
Checkpoints at the exit and entrance of Passi City and of every barangay will also be placed.
Only residents will be allowed by policemen and village watchmen to enter the city or barangay provided that they present an ID, Palmares said.
Public gatherings such as birthdays, religious gatherings, including weddings, and baptism receptions are also prohibited.
"I am asking for everybody's cooperation and understanding. I know this decision of placing the entire city under ECQ is not favorable to some of you, however, this decision is the result of our meeting and we need to strictly implement guidelines in our city so that the cases of Covid-19 will not increase anymore," Palmares said.
Information released by the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) as of 2 p.m. on Wednesday showed Passi City has recorded 77 new cases. The new cases brought to 190 the total cases of Passi from January 1 to 27 this year.
The increase of Covid-19 cases in the city was due to the daily mass testing conducted by the city government.
On Jan. 26, more than 600 vendors from the city’s public market were tested using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). (PNA)
