IT’S HERE Some600 doses of CoronaVac vaccines arrive in Marinduque on Friday for the inoculation of front-line health-care workers. —PHOTO FROM THE FACEBOOK PAGE OF GOV. PRESBITERO VELASCO JR.
LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — The provincial governments of Romblon and Marinduque and 10 towns in Pangasinan province will continue to require a negative swab test result for returning residents and visitors.
Romblon Gov. Jose Riano, in an order dated March 4, required all persons entering the province to show negative results of their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test taken from their points of origin and administered only by Department of Health (DOH)-accredited laboratories or the Philippine Red Cross.
The travel authority and a medical certificate from the points of origin would no longer be required, based on a recent order from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). But travelers must first secure a travel entry approval from the province, Riano said.
On Feb. 26, the IATF adopted a uniform travel protocol for all local governments, with COVID-19 testing and quarantine for travelers no longer mandatory, “unless the local government unit will make it a requirement.”
Visitors’ cap
Romblon has recorded 141 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic broke out last year, with 130 recoveries and 3 deaths. The province still has eight active virus carriers.
The archipelagic province of Romblon, located at the Sibuyan Sea, is part of the Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) region.
Marinduque will also continue to require a negative swab test result issued, at most, 72 hours prior to the visitors’ or returning residents’ arrival, said Gov. Presbitero Velasco Jr. in an order dated March 5.
Persons bound for Marinduque are also required to secure a “travel coordination permit” from the provincial government, he said.
Velasco said they would also limit the number of visitors entering the island on Holy Week, which will begin on March 28 and end on April 4, Easter Sunday, even if the province will not be staging this year its famous Moriones Festival, a folk religious practice of devotees wearing wooden masks and costumes depicting Roman soldiers who paraded on the streets of the province during the Holy Week.
Velasco asked the local governments of the province’s six towns to set the limit for the number of visitors they would accept.
As of March 5, Marinduque logged 288 cases, 270 recoveries and 13 fatalities. The province still has five active cases.
Pangasinan, too
Romblon and Marinduque received on Friday their shares of CoronaVac vaccines donated by Chinese manufacturer Sinovac Biotech Ltd., at 1,000 doses and 600 doses, respectively. Inoculation began on Saturday in both provinces.
In Pangasinan, ten towns still required residents or visitors entering their communities to present negative RT-PCR tests, the provincial government announced.
The towns of Lingayen, Urbiztondo, Binalonan, Alcala and Natividad require RT-PCR results if the individuals entering their borders exhibit COVID-19 symptoms. The municipalities of Bani, Asingan, San Nicolas, Balungao and Sto. Tomas need the RT-PCR test results regardless of the visitor’s symptoms.
But these towns no longer require visitors to present travel authorities and medical certificates.
Pangasinan has 44 towns and three component cities. Checkpoints at Dagupan City require visitors to show their identification cards and the QR (quick response) code generated when they sign up at the gopangasinan.ph website.