BORDER CHECKPOINT. Fewer vehicles are observed at the Badoc gateway as the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte are placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ). The GCQ status is effective on Friday (July 23) until July 31, 2021. (PNA file photo by Leilanie G. Adriano)
LAOAG CITY – Residents in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, whether fully vaccinated or not against coronavirus are strongly urged to keep their guards up as the more infectious Delta variant may have entered this northern part of Luzon.
In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Ilocos Sur Governor Ryan Singson announced the province will be implementing some "heightened restrictions" in the movement of people as health workers as well as hospital facilities are on the brink of collapse due to increasing cases of symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients.
“As the Department of Health confirmed the presence of new variants in our province, let us be more careful to protect each another,” said Singson as he assured the government is doing its best to speed up the vaccine rollout to the different local government units of the province.
According to Dr. Trina Talaga, provincial hospital chief of Ilocos Sur, there had been a magnitude of delayed turnaround time of laboratory results for the new variants which makes it hard for them to conduct contact tracing up to the third level.
With this, the public is strongly advised to secure themselves by observing maximum health standards and avoid social gatherings as these are considered as virus "super spreaders".
In Ilocos Norte, Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc also ordered the fast rollout of vaccines from the Department of Health while local authorities including village officials will intensify border checkpoints within their areas of jurisdictions.
Based on the latest vaccine data, around 60,000 doses of vaccines were already rolled out in Ilocos Sur while Ilocos Norte has vaccinated around 46,000 individuals under the A1 to A3 priority groups.
The Department of Health assured more vaccines are expected to arrive in both provinces in the next few weeks to vaccinate those from the economic sector or A4 category.
While doing so, both provinces also implement massive contact tracing, immediate isolation, and localized lockdowns in barangays with spikes in Covid-19 cases. (PNA)
