By Francis Allan L. Angelo
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas ordered the imposition of a 3-day surgical extreme enhanced community quarantine (SEECQ) on Brgy. Pali-Benedicto in Mandurriao after 10 residents were infected with COVID-19.
The health office is also actively tracing close contacts of the patients after one of them allegedly went out for a drinking spree in their village.
The lockdown imposed via Executive Order No. 107 affects 62 households in Zone 5 and 13 in Zone 4.
The EO mandated that residents of affected households are barred from leaving their homes for three days until the COVID-19 testing and sanitation process has been completed.
Only Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) shall be allowed entrance and exit and existing health and safety measures shall be strictly imposed, until lifted.
All forms of transportation, both private and public, including the unauthorized movement of persons along the street where the affected households are located shall be absolutely restricted for the duration of SEECQ.
The restrictions shall not apply to persons who need hospital care and management.
Apart from the mandatory disinfection and testing, the City Hall also ordered contact tracing of persons who may have been exposed to the 10 positive cases.
Persons who tested positive using the Rapid Anti-Body Tests shall be confined at the Jubilee Hall, General Luna Street, Iloilo City, pending results of the Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
Persons who tested positive for COVID-19 via RT-PCR test shall be confined at the St. Therese Hospital in Jalandoni Street, Iloilo City.
The Iloilo City Government will provide the food and medical needs of the affected residents during the SEECQ.
Barangay officials of Zone 4, and Zone 5 in Pali Benedicto shall secure the list of necessary medicines which will be submitted to the Iloilo City Health Office immediately.
Among the persons authorized to access the area are health officials, personnel distributing food and medicines, Red Cross personnel, police, fire fighters, Public Safety and Traffic Management Office personnel, force multipliers and volunteers maintaining peace and order, Health Care Workers, and sanitation personnel of the Iloilo City Government, Iloilo City Health Office, and Bureau of Fire Protection.
