TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The city government underscored that implementers of the guidelines governing the enforcement of the general community quarantine (GCQ) were only properly doing their assigned duties and responsibilities in ensuring there are infected individuals sneaking into the city and spread the dreaded Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) 2019.
Mayor Darwin C. Estrañero pointed out that from the start of the COVID global pandemic, the city government adopted a strategy to implement preventive measures to sustain the city’s identity as one of the COVID-free s cities in the country.
Kalinga, including the component City of Tabuk, remains COVID-free even as the region’s status is downgraded from the previous enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ).
The city chief executive explained that residents of the city and the province and even the returning individuals should understand why people managing the checkpoints around the city are very strict in the implementation of the GCQ rules as they do not want any infected individual to enter the city and spread the deadly virus.
Mayor Estrañero claimed the city government will continue to adhere to the guidelines governing the GCQ implementation because the threat of COVID remains as their no vaccine yet developed to prevent it.
According to him, the city government does not want to compromise the health of the city’s residents with any confirmed COVID case in the city as this will ruin the gains achieved during the ECQ and implementation, thus, the need for everyone to understand the prevailing situation and be patient in complying with the stringent GCQ regulations.
He stated that in fact, Kalinga and Tabuk City were the first local governments in the region to strictly implement the quarantine rules and regulations, particularly the thermal scanning of people entering the city and the province, more than a month prior to the ECQ implementation to ensure that no infected individuals will be able to enter the city.
Estrañero cited the city government, in coordination with government agencies, continue to closely monitor the entry of people in the city even during the GCQ because of the expected influx of returning locally stranded individuals who are re-joining their families but the same must be done in a calibrated manner pursuant to prevailing health protocols.
He emphasized that the crafted rules for local stranded individuals are intended to ensure they are healthy for the protection of their family members whom they will interact with upon arrival in the city.
The city mayor asserted that no one wanted that the country will be in a difficult situation because of the COVID outbreak but something must be drastically done to prevent the residents from being compromised by the deadly virus which the city had already been enforcing even before the implementation of the quarantine period
By HENT
