Gov suspends air, sea travel to Bohol to curb COVID-19 spread

The provincial Capitol of Bohol. (Leo Udtohan/Inquirer Visayas)

TAGBILARAN CITY––Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap has suspended all air and sea travel to the province from Aug. 6 to 20 to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

In his Aug. 2 executive order, Yap said the suspension of inbound travel provides a “breathing spell,” to give the province the time to coordinate with the local governments.

Travel within Bohol and out of the province, however, will continue.

“(What we are doing) is to give local governments the time to drive an aggressive program to vaccinate the senior citizens, those with comorbidities, and to support our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) who need to be deployed abroad quickly,” the governor said.

Exempted from Yap’s order are health workers on official business, authorized government officials, those traveling for medical and humanitarian reasons, returning overseas Filipino workers, persons providing basic services and public utilities, and bank personnel, who need to come to the province to replenish cash and other supplies necessary for continuous bank service.

Authorized persons outside residence (APORs) are required to have a negative swab test result taken 72 hours before arrival in Bohol.

APORs who stay in Bohol for less than five days can only go to places stated in their itinerary and must stay in either a designated quarantine hotel or temporary treatment and monitoring facilities.

On the other hand, APORs staying for more than five days are required to undergo a repeat reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test on the fifth day of their stay in Bohol’s quarantine facilities.

If test results are negative, they can already go out of the “APOR bubble” or in the case of OFWs, can already go home.

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