Ilocos Norte, Tuguegarao extend hard lockdown

Authorities manning Ilocos Norte borders have issued a warning to cargo and delivery operators after some of them were caught violating health protocols when traveling to the province. (Photo courtesy of Ilocos Norte provincial government)

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — The provincial government of Ilocos Norte has extended for a week the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) status in 19 of 23 towns and cities in the province due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

In an executive order on Monday, Gov. Matthew Marcos Manotoc said all areas in the province, except for the towns of Adams, Carasi, Dumalneg and Pagudpud, would remain under the strictest form of quarantine from Sept. 1 to Sept. 7.

Ban lifted

The 19 areas, which were under ECQ from Aug. 16 to Aug. 31, were tagged as “red zones” for having at least 61 active cases.

With the extended ECQ, Manotoc said nonessential mass gatherings would be disallowed and the movement of residents would be limited only to accessing essential goods and services. Curfew and liquor ban would be maintained from 9 p.m to 4 a.m. while unnecessary cross-border movement between towns and cities would be prohibited.

As of Tuesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Ilocos Norte hit 3,669. The province had recorded 15,162 COVID-19 cases with 11,296 recoveries and 197 deaths since the pandemic struck last year.

Despite the stricter quarantine restrictions, Manotoc reopened the province’s borders to returning residents starting Sept. 1 after banning them on Aug. 3 as precaution against the spread of COVID-19 and its more transmissible variants.

‘Alarming’

But returning residents, including Filipinos based overseas, were asked to coordinate with their local governments and submit negative results of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test taken within 60 hours prior to their entry.

In Tuguegarao City, the ECQ was extended until Sept. 5 due to an “alarming” surge, according to the Cagayan Valley pandemic task force. The city’s ECQ status was supposed to be lifted on Monday.

The extension was recommended by the city government to the task force following calls from health workers and the business community.

Government records showed that the number of active COVID-19 cases in the city had reached 1,335 with the addition of 60 new cases on Monday. It also registered seven new cases of the Delta variant.

Tuguegarao has logged 11,146 cases and 268 deaths since the pandemic was declared last year.

—REPORTS FROM JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS AND VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.