BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The Western Visayas Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 has been asked to extend the travel moratorium between Iloilo City and Negros Occidental until June 15.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas sought the extension of the ban on inbound and outbound travel after the city was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ from June 1 to 15.
The travel ban was implemented from May 25 to 31 because the city was also under MECQ.
Treñas said entry and exit points by land, sea and air travel shall remain restricted.
Only the movement of cargo is exempted from the travel moratorium.
Iloilo recorded 109 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including nine city hall employees.
From May 26 to May 30, the city logged more than 100 cases per day.
Lockdown
In Zambales, the Philippine Merchant Maritime Academy (PMMA) in San Narciso town was placed on lockdown over the weekend after 125 cadets and two employees tested positive for COVID-19.
Five of the patients were confined at the Ramon Magsaysay Regional Medical Center.
“All the necessary steps are being taken to control the spread of the infections,” Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said.
The PMMA gave assurance that stricter health protocols are being implemented in the academy.
Meanwhile, a 47-year-old policeman assigned in Tagum, Davao del Norte died of COVID-19 on Monday.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the patient was brought to a hospital on May 27 after his reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test showed that he contracted the virus.
Sixty-seven PNP personnel have died after testing positive for COVID-19 since last year, 40 of them since last January.
The PNP recorded 143 new infections, bringing the active cases in the police force to 1,650. – Jennifer Rendon, Bebot Sison, Emmanuel Tupas