Lucena ready to impose strict Alert Level 3 protocols

LUCENA CITY – Local authorities here reactivated its COVID-19 task force to implement the rules and regulations being imposed under the more stringent Alert Level 3 starting Sunday.

“We’re ready to face the threat and curb the surge of new cases by strict implementation of the Alert Level 3 regulations,” Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala said in a phone interview.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) heightened the quarantine status of Lucena, classified as a highly-urbanized city, and 13 other areas under Alert Level 3 from January 9 to 15 amid the alarming increase of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Alcala said the barangay community task force (BCTF) members have already been deployed to help prevent the rise of new infections.

The BCTF, which played a significant role in lowering the city’s COVID-19 cases in the past, has been conducting regular patrols in the city’s 33 villages to arrest violators of the city ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks and distancing of at least one meter.

Violators of the ordinance are required to render three hours of community service as a penalty for the first offense.

The second offense carries a penalty of five hours of community service and a P500 fine. The third offense is penalized with seven hours of community service and a P1,000 in fine.

The city government also provided hotlines for the reporting of violations and violators.

Alcala ordered all business establishments to bar unvaccinated individuals from entering their premises.

Authorities will also prevent those under home quarantine to go out of their houses to prevent the spread of the virus, he stressed.

The local government will provide aid to all residents under home quarantine, Alcala said.

“Let’s help one another. Follow the regulations and all COVID-19 health and safety protocols and we can overcome this renewed threat,” Alcala said.

On January 8, the City Health Office reported eight new COVID-19 cases that followed 10 listed infections on Friday and another 10 on Thursday.

The sudden rise of COVID-19 cases has consequently increased the number of active cases to 54 from only one case on Dec. 20.

In Quezon province, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) recorded 70 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as the number of active cases rose to 418.

As of January 8, out of 41 municipalities in the province, the towns with active virus carriers jumped to 33 from only six on December 27.

The tally for the day listed two recoveries and one fatality.