Infections linked to Iloilo market lead to lockdown

ILOILO CITY — Passi City in Iloilo province was placed on a two-week lockdown starting on Thursday due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at the local public market.

The city, 56 kilometers north of here, will be under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the status with the strictest restrictions, starting 6 a.m. on Thursday until midnight of Feb. 11, its mayor, Stephen Palmares, said in a statement.

“I am asking for everybody’s cooperation and understanding. I know this decision of placing the entire city under ECQ is not favorable to some of you, however, this decision is the result of our meeting and we need to strictly implement guidelines in our city so that the cases of COVID-19 will not increase anymore,” he said.

Palmares said at least 100 market vendors had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday night. They were among 600 vendors who were tested as part of the daily testing in the city that is home to more than 80,000.

Single-day record

“This is the highest recorded confirmed COVID-19 case in the city in a single day,” Palmares said.

All establishments, except those providing food, water, and other necessities, have been ordered closed. But hospitals, clinics, medical facilities, diagnostic centers and laboratories, dental clinics, pharmacies and drugstores will remain open.

Factories and plants engaged in manufacturing, processing and storage of food and medicine, as well as banks, pawnshops, money transfer and payment and remittance centers, are also allowed to operate.

Palmares said checkpoints would be put up in the city’s entry and exit points. Nonresidents would be barred, but travelers would be allowed to pass through.

A citywide curfew has been imposed from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.