Cagayan declares calamity state amid COVID-19 scare

TUGUEGARAO CITY –– Governor Manuel Mamba on Saturday (Mar. 14) placed Cagayan province under a state of calamity as the government draws up measures to prevent a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection.

Mamba also ordered the temporary closure of the Cagayan Sports Complex, the Cagayan Museum, the Cagayan Provincial Learning Resource Center and Callao Caves, when he presided over the Cagayan provincial disaster risk-reduction management council meeting.

“A lockdown has been proposed … [But] most people here need to work for their daily subsistence so it is very hard to implement a lockdown,” the governor said.

Mamba suspended classes at all levels in both private and public schools “until further notice,” and urged parents to keep them at home.

To date, Cagayan health workers are monitoring the conditions of 26 persons under investigation (PUI) who traveled to countries where COVID-19 has been detected.

Tuguegarao Mayor Jefferson Soriano directed the health office to disinfect classrooms used during the National Schools Press Conference which ended on March 13.

In the Isabela city of Cauayan, Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy said he placed himself under self-quarantine since Thursday (Mar. 12) after he met with Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Miguel Zubiri to follow-up on local government requests and to inform them about the cancelation of the Gawagaway-yan Festival.

Dy also scrapped the city’s foundation day celebration, while the Cagayan Valley Regional Athletic Association to be hosted there, had also been canceled.

In the Cordillera province of Ifugao, Alfonso Lista town officials closed the 1,000-step eco-park and birdwatching site until March 31./lzb