CEBU CITY –– Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has ordered a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all travelers to Cebu coming from North Gyeongsang province in South Korea amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The order issued by Garcia on Friday afternoon also covers the 26 Korean nationals who arrived in Cebu before the declaration of a travel ban.
But Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), said seven of the 26 Koreans were no longer found in the hotels they have listed on the health declaration cards that they filled up when they arrived at the airport on February 25.
The 19 other Koreans, however, are now on 14-day quarantine based on the protocols stipulated in Garcia’s Executive Order 5-C dated February 28.
During a press briefing, Bernadas said Koreans have the option to undergo quarantine or go back to South Korea. As of now, the Koreans are restricted inside their hotel rooms.
Garcia, head of the Cebu Task Force on Covid-19, said the Cebu Provincial Police Office and the DOH-7 would make sure that the Koreans stay inside their rooms.
If the hotels will no longer accept the Koreans inside their premises, Bernadas said they would be brought to the government quarantine facility either in the cities of Cebu or Lapu-Lapu.
The emergency meeting called by Garcia was intended to address the growing concerns on the arrival of Koreans from Daegu City, which is a part of North Gyeongsang.
Garcia said there was also a “confusion” on the part of the national government agencies whether a travel ban is already in effect or not.
To address this confusion, Garcia said she had to issue an executive order for a 14-day mandatory quarantine on all arrivals from the COVID-19 affected areas in South Korea. She repeatedly said that she had no power to issue a travel ban so she settled for a quarantine.
Executive Order 5 also required the filling up of forms to find out whether or not they traveled to COVID-19 affected areas for both domestic and international arrivals.
Garcia said there would be a strict implementation of what people fill up on the health declaration cards. Those who will be dishonest will be fined and imprisoned./lzb