Grace Carungay, head of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of Lapu-Lapu City, says the city government will now require all international travellers arriving at the Mactan Cebu International Airport to be quarantined and swabbed. | CDN Digital – Futch Anthony Inso
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City government will now put under 14-day quarantine and swab test all its residents, who will arrive at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and who traveled from other countries.
Grace Carungay, head of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU), said that this would be the city’s response after the country had logged its first case of the new variant of the coronavirus disease 2019, which was first detected in the United Kingdom (UK).
Look: Here is a list of flagged countries with confirmed cases of UK COVID-19 variant
Currently, flights from 33 countries with confirmed cases of the new variant of the coronavirus were already restricted at MCIA.
“Tanan na nga mga international flights gikan sa gawas, ato na silang gi-isolate. Mao nang kita naningkamot nga ang tanang mangabutay, ato na silang ma-swab bisan ug wala pa sila maapil sa flagged countries,” Carungay said.
(All the international flights or those flights from abroad, these passengers we will isolate. That is why we are doing our best to swab all those who arrive even if they did not come from flagged countries.)
Read: Lapu-Lapu gov’t monitors 16 travellers from countries with cases of new COVID strain
Carungay revealed that currently, the city has already isolated 55 travelers, where 27 of them were being quarantined in Lapu-Lapu City’s isolation facility in Barangay Gun-ob, while the rest were placed in DOH accredited quarantine hotels.
Out of the 55 travelers, 49 were already tested negative of the virus while 6 are still waiting for their swab test result.
Read: Chinese national, 6 others held at MCIA for fake Letter of Acceptance
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan, for his part, said that he already ordered city hall employees assigned in the airport to check thoroughly the documents of all returning Oponganons from other countries.
“Well ato gyud nang gipahugtan no. Ang sa atong nahibaw-an, naa sa Manila ang natakdan sa bag-ong strain. Ang ato lang, tan-awon lang gyud nato ang dokumento, kun kompleto ba gyud sa gi-required sa IATF ug sa siyudad,” Chan said.
(Well we are tightening our measures. And from what we know, the person infected with the new strain is in Manila. What we are doing is we look at the documents, if they are complete and that if they are required by the IATF and the city government.)
Chan also urged other local government units (LGUs) in Cebu Province to do the same, to prevent the entry of those who might have contracted the new variant of the virus.
He said that he only wanted to protect his constituents, especially that the airport is located in the city./dbs