VILLAGE LOCKDOWN. Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 conduct a house-to-house announcement about the 15-day home quarantine and lockdown to residents of Barangay Poblacion, Carmen, North Cotabato, on Monday (May 17, 2021) following a spike in infections. The town government says it is preparing food supply to about 15,000 families affected by the lockdown. (Photo courtesy of Carmen MSWD)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – The local Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Carmen, North Cotabato, will place Barangay Poblacion under a lockdown status due to rising infections.
Carmen Mayor Moises Arendain, who chairs the town IATF, said the decision to declare a lockdown in the whole of Barangay Poblacion was reached after the task force has difficulty finding persons who have close contacts with those infected with the virus.
“The IATF could not locate individuals who have close contacts with the Covid-19 patients unless we declare a lockdown,” he told reporters here in a radio interview Monday.
He said the lockdown will start at 12 noon Monday (May 17) until 12 noon on June 1.
Arendain said the infection was earlier traced to some residents who went to parties outside the town and “unknowingly brought in the virus.”
Carmen now has 46 active Covid-19 cases and eight of them were town government employees.
The town hall has been subjected to disinfection over the weekend.
Arendain said the LGU has prepared food supplies for about 15,000 families in the next 15 days.
Only persons with essential business can leave the village during the quarantine period and they must secure certification from the barangay hall before they can buy medicine or other food provisions, the mayor said.
“I hope everybody will cooperate, this is for your own good, obey IATF policies,” the official said. (PNA)
