Palawan to tighten border controls after new COVID-19 variant detected in Malaysia

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY –– Local officials in southern Palawan will enforce tighter border controls after Malaysia reported a new variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Palawan Gov. Jose Alvarez on Tuesday said he has ordered local authorities to deny undocumented individuals from entering through Mangsee Island in Balabac municipality.

The island is known as a backdoor for sea travelers from Sabah, and the island of Borneo.

Malaysian health authorities on Dec. 24 reported that one of their patients from Sabah carries the new variant of the highly infectious virus.

“We have many small seacrafts [for patrol]. Those who have a passport may be allowed to enter,” Alvarez said.

Jeremias Alili, the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force for COVID-19 Emergency Operation Manager, in a separate statement, confirmed that Alvarez has given a directive to “divert all available resources,” even possibly implementing a lockdown in southern Palawan.

“We scheduled a series of meetings to discuss a possible lockdown in southern Palawan. We have yet to discuss the matter with the local chief executives,” Alili said in a statement.

Alili clarified, however, that merchants, fisherfolk, and other essential sea travelers from neighboring islands within the Sulu Sea, including Malaysia, Borneo, and Mindanao islands, would remain unhampered.

Balabac town, now virtually COVID-free, has reported a spike of 12 confirmed cases in November from a string of local transmission cases indexed from two female individuals who arrived in Mangsee Island after a visit from the neighboring town of Tawi-Tawi.

LZB