General Santos City Mayor Ronnel Rivera. (File photo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city government has scrapped the mandatory quarantine protocol for travelers and returning residents but they should test negative for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) at least 72 hours before arrival or entry into the area.
Mayor Ronnel Rivera issued the directive through an executive order released to the public on Monday afternoon based on the decision of the City Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases.
He said the removal of the quarantine requirement, which was set “effective immediately,” is in consonance with national IATF Resolution No. 101 issued last Feb. 26 that provided for the uniform travel protocols for all local government units (LGUs).
As a “general rule,” the mayor said individuals arriving through the city international airport and other ports of entry will no longer be placed in quarantine facilities.
But he said they should be able to present upon arrival negative antigen or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results that should be taken 72 hours before their travel.
Rivera said such requirement is based on City Ordinance No. 51, series of 2020, which remains “valid and effective.”
“That is a continuing requirement for all incoming passengers from Luzon and Visayas, particularly Cebu, and areas with high incidence of Covid-19 local transmission,” he said.
The mayor said all returning residents and travelers, including those just transiting the city, should be registered with the Trace and Protect Action Team or Tapat system and issued with Quick Response or QR codes for proper contact-tracing.
He said the city’s 26 barangays will be responsible for fetching the newly-arrived passengers from their respective areas at the port of entries and in ferrying them to their homes.
The city government, through designated personnel, will coordinate the concerned barangays regarding the arrival of passengers coming from their areas, he said.
The mayor said the barangay health emergency response teams or BHERTS are mandated to properly document and conduct daily monitoring on the health status of travelers, returning residents, and members of their households for at least 14 days.
He said the rural health units in the city should be informed of such arrivals and updated on the results of the monitoring.
Any traveler, returning resident, or members of their household who would exhibit Covid-19 symptoms within the period will be transferred immediately to the barangay isolation units, he said.
For travelers or individuals from other areas that would be arriving at the city airport and other points of entry, Rivera said they should be fetched by their respective LGUs and ferry them to their areas.
He said private vehicles are not allowed to enter the city airport compound and other ports to fetch and ferry any passenger.
“This is to avoid the import to the city of new Covid-19 cases (from the neighboring areas),” he said.
As of Monday night, the city’s confirmed Covid-19 cases already reached a total of 2,086, with 83 related deaths, but 1,933 of the patients have fully recovered.
The continuing recovery of the majority of the patients and the slowdown in recorded infections in the last two weeks have brought down the remaining active cases to just 70.
City Councilor Franklin Gacal Jr., author of Ordinance No. 51, earlier considered amending the measure to scrap the negative antigen and RT-PCR test result as an entry requirement but called it off following consultations with the city’s medical society.
Medical doctors from private and public hospitals here had recommended the retention of such requirement to prevent the spread of Covid-19 cases from areas with a high incidence of the disease, especially the mutated variants, in Cebu and Metro Manila. (PNA)
