The San Juan city government has started processing online bookings for cemetery visits as the Covid-19 pandemic will not allow the usual observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days on November 1 and 2, respectively.

The San Juan public cemetery and private columbaries will only allow booked appointments from October 18 to November 7, except on October 29 to November 2 when the cemetery will be closed.

There are no national guidelines yet for the annual tradition that honors the dead but last year, all local government units ordered public cemeteries, memorial parks and columbaria closed from October 29 to November 4.

“To manage the crowds, the local government relaunched its online booking system for appointments at the cemetery with only two persons allowed per booking,” Mayor Francis Zamora said during his inspection of the cemetery on Monday.

Visitors can stay for a maximum of two hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A maximum of 300 will be allowed per two-hour slot.

Visitors are required to present confirmatory text and identification cards upon entry and prepare to leave 15 minutes before the end of their slots to give way to the next batch, Zamora said.

Strict health protocols will be imposed such as temperature scanning, disinfection, and filling out health declaration forms.

Residents could reserve their preferred visitation date and time by contacting hotline numbers 7728-9818/0915-1627152 or by visiting www.picktime.com/SJCUndas2021.

“Ang capacity po ng ating sementeryo ay 1,000 persons at sinet natin at 30 percent upang hindi maging dahilan ho ng pagkahawa-hawa kung sakaling meron mang may mga impeksyon sa mga dadalaw (The capacity of the cemetery is at 1,000 persons and we set it at 30 percent capacity to prevent the spread of infection in case there is virus carrier among visitors),” Zamora said.

Zamora said the city government also prohibits Halloween activities, such as trick or treats. (PNA)