In Cebu City’s new normal: Quarantine passes, border checkpoints to stay
Some of the skyscrapers of Cebu City. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Residents in Cebu City should hold on to their quarantine passes even if the city eases its quarantine restrictions beginning 12:01 a.m. on Monday, June 1.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Sunday, May 31, issued Executive Order (EO) No. 79 laying down the guidelines for the city’s new normal.
READ MORE: IATF Oks request to put Cebu City under GCQ
While mandatory home quarantine is now limited only to senior citizens and minors, and more business establishments are allowed to reopen, the city government, however, will still require quarantine passes.
“The requirement for City Government-issued Quarantine Passes as mandated under Executive Order No. 065, Series of 2020, including its other guidelines, shall continue to be in effect for residents who wish to access essential goods and services within the GCQ,” the EO stated.
Labella also ordered for border checkpoints to stay 24/7.
“Border control or checkpoints shall be maintained at all times to ensure that only essential travel and exempt businesses, individuals, workers can enter or exit through Cebu City,” the document said.
“Personnel manning checkpoints may also conduct random inspections on a case-to-case basis especially if there is traffic congestion,” it added.
Meanwhile, the city government has also introduced several new rules, and modifications in previous policies implemented during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
These included readjusting the start of curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will end at 5 a.m. the next day. The curfew, the orders said, would apply to all residents regardless of age.
Employers and managers operating under the new normal are also ‘strongly encouraged’ to closely monitor the health status of their workers, and have the latter undergo tests either through rapid anti-body diagnostic tests or real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques.
“In addition, as part of monitoring, employers must screen their returning employees or workers for influenza-like symptoms and those that have a relevant history of travel or exposure coming from areas that have high COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) cases, to prevent possible infection,” the city said.
Aside from quarantine passes and checkpoints, Labella ordered for the number coding scheme and Carbon Market schedules to be sustained throughout the city’s GCQ phase. /dbs
READ MORE: Labella: Curfew, number coding, Carbon Market schedules to remain while city is under GCQ
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