Pampanga stays under stricter MGCQ until August 31

Pampanga police check incoming vehicles as part of intensified curbs against COVID-19. (Photo from the Pampanga Police Provincial Office)

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Gov. Dennis Pineda has extended up to August 31 the stricter form of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in the province as new COVID-19 cases reached almost 4,000 in the first two weeks of the month.

Pineda issued Executive Order No. 17-A to extend EO No. 17, which imposed several restrictions, including compliance with protocols like wearing of face mask, 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew, liquor ban, and stay-at-home order for ages 17 below and 61 years old and above.

MGCQ is deemed the least restrictive quarantine classification to prevent the furthe spread of COVID-19.

Pineda has also prohibited movements from one barangay to another, reactivated checkpoints, and required non-residents to show negative results of antigen or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests two days before entry to Pampanga.

Only APORs (authorized persons outside of residence) are allowed to go out of their homes while social events are allowed with limited crowds depending on the size of the venue.

Pineda said Pampanga, including Angeles City, had 3,999 new COVID-19 cases and 185 deaths from August 1-15.

On August 15 alone, the province logged 377 new cases, the highest since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Pampanga rented again the Building B of the Athletes’ Village in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, to house in 250 rooms patients who show mild and moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

As an extension of the Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Provincial Hospital, Building B is fitted with oxygen tanks, intravenous poles, portable x-rays, and an antigen testing lab.

Pineda said the three isolation centers operated by the Pampanga provincial government are filled while private hospitals have few rooms left to take in COVID-19 patients.

“We are trying to help decongest the [Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital] and private hospitals that are Level 3 facilities by taking in the mild and moderate case so these Level 3 hospitals can serve severe to critical patients,” Pineda said.

The provincial government has also been monitoring the prices of COVID medicines in private hospitals to avoid overpricing. INQ