The Calbayog City government in Samar will implement a 14-day lockdown starting Friday due to increasing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
Mayor Ronald Aquino said on Thursday that this was the recommendation of the city’s inter-agency task force and health workers to curb the spread of the virus. The city government will provide food packs to families affected by movement restriction.
Aquino said that locking down the city is a tough decision, but the only solution they can think of right now to stop people from breaching health protocols.
“Business establishments in the city are prohibited to operate except for those providing essential goods like pharmacy and drug store, grocery, water refilling station, bakeshop, and other food needs. Public transportation is also prohibited to operate,” the mayor said in a statement.
The city is among the eight local government units in the region included in the list of areas declared by the Department of Health (DOH) in Eastern Visayas with clustered cases of Covid-19 or those with three or more cases in two consecutive weeks.
According to the DOH, these areas with clustered Covid-19 cases in Calbayog are the villages of Carmen, Balud, Agititan, Dagum, Capoocan, San Policarpio, Rawis, Obrero, and Awang West.
The city so far has 320 Covid-19 cases, with 88 recoveries. These include 52 new cases reported on Wednesday, raising concerns among local officials.
Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Eastern Visayas has reached 5,053 as of Wednesday, with 4,321 recoveries and 50 deaths. (PNA)
