UNDER QUARANTINE. The streets of downtown Zamboanga City are almost empty as the imposition of modified enhanced community quarantine takes effect Saturday (May 8, 2021). The National Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases placed Zamboanga City under MECQ following the spike of the coronavirus disease in the city. (PNA photo by Teofilo P. Garcia, Jr.)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The National Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Diseases (NIATF-EID) has placed this city under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) effective Saturday, May 8, until May 14.
Following the declaration, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar urged the public Friday to comply with the health protocols and guidelines provided under Executive Order 656-2021, which sets the movement restriction guidelines under the MECQ.
Salazar said the health sector asked for the imposition of MECQ “in order to control and prevent the further spread of Covid-19 in the community.”
Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite, City Health Office chief, said the city has a total of 7,325 confirmed cases with 5,059 recoveries, 1,994 active cases, and 272 deaths as of May 7.
She said 96 percent of the 1,994 active cases are community transmitted.
Under EO 656-2021, establishments providing basic necessities and such activities related to foods and medicine production will remain open, while the movement of people would be limited to accessing essential goods and services and for work.
The Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) entry requirement will also be implemented, while government offices will remain operational but under a skeleton workforce.
Public and private gatherings, meanwhile, are temporarily suspended, while religious gatherings are allowed up to 10 percent of the venue capacity.
Under MECQ, curfew will be imposed in all places from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. from Monday to Sunday, and the quarantine passes will be the basis of the movement of people within the city.
Salazar said health protocols and EO 656-2021 violators would be slapped with corresponding fines and penalties. (PNA)
