La Union’s capital city returns to MECQ as hospitals burst at the seams with COVID-19 cases
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union—With isolation facilities and hospitals bursting at the seams and many health workers and others on the frontline getting infected with coronavirus, this capital city went into a more restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Mayor Alfredo Ortega issued an executive order for the return of MECQ to the city from April 10 to 23 “to safeguard the health and safety of everyone and prevent the further spread of COVID-19.”
The city had bee on modified general community quarantine, a more relaxed lockdown form.
Measures under MECQ included stricter border control, suspension of public transportation except tricycles, closure of nonessential establishments, 50 percent workforce for open businesses and encouraging work from home schemes for workers.
As of Thursday (April 9), the city had 377 active COVID-19 cases, 113 of them logged on that day. The entire La Union province has recorded 1,723 cases since 2020, 363 of which are active.