Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 30) — Tuguegarao City is now under a 10-day enhanced community quarantine to control the surge in COVID-19 infections in the city.
Stricter lockdown rules were placed from midnight Tuesday until midnight of April 8 to help the city bring down its cases, Tuguegarao Mayor Jefferson Soriano told CNN Philippines’ New Day.
“It’s only now that we’re experiencing a big number of COVID cases in the area…As of now we have 568 active cases, the highest since March last year,” Soriano said.
Soriano noted that on Saturday alone, the city logged 113 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day tally they ever recorded. They also recorded 513 active COVID-19 cases, the highest figure they had since the pandemic started.
Soriano added that Cagayan Valley Medical Center, the largest medical facility in the Cagayan Valley Region, has already reached its full capacity.
“We had to take drastic measures, we had to make very hard decisions to control the COVID surge in the area,” the mayor said.
In the guidelines posted by the Tuguegarao City Information Office, public transportation in the area is now operating in a very limited capacity. Tricycles must follow a color coding and plate number scheme, with only two passengers allowed (one inside the vehicle and the other at the back of the driver). Backriding on motorcycles is allowed provided that the passenger and the driver are members of the same household.
Only essential retail trade and service establishments can operate on a full on-site capacity, and a quarantine pass must be presented when going out of one’s barangay. Curfew is at 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Authorized persons outside their residences can only travel outside the city after securing a travel pass or presenting any valid I.D. or documents to authorities. Other guidelines imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases are applied by the city government.
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal were also placed under ECQ until April, but officials have yet to decide on a possible extension due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.
READ: LIST: One-week ECQ in Greater Manila area explained
