Lipa City mayor orders stricter lockdown measures under GCQ

The mayor of Lipa City ordered stricter measures to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2 following President Rodrigo Duterte’s classifying the entire Batangas province under general community quarantine (GCQ) effective Saturday, August 1. 

In a video message on Friday, July 31, Lipa Mayor Eric Africa said the city would go on a total lockdown because this was the clamor of residents and netizens.

While on lockdown, residents would be required to secure new quarantine passes from their respective barangays. 

Secondary roads from neighboring towns leading to Lipa City would also be closed. 

Africa said that data from the City Health Office showed that most of the coronavirus positive cases in the last month were residents working outside the city who then infected other members of their family. 

“Inaatasan natin ang mga barangay captain na hanapin at ilista ang lahat ng nakatira sa kanilang barangay na nagtatrabaho sa ibang bayan at siguraduhin na sila ay may isolation facility sa kanilang bahay para hindi makahawa sa kanilang pamilya. Kung wala naman po ay kayo po ay aking ineencourage na magstay na muna sa inyong pinagtatrabahuhan para po maprotektahan nyo rin ang inyong pamilya,” he said. 

(We are ordering the barangay captains to look for and make a list of all their residents who work outside the city. And to make sure that these people have isolation facilities in their homes so that they won’t infect their family. For those who don’t have this, I encourage you to stay near your place of work so that you can also protect your family.)

Meanwhile, non-residents who were working in the city would now be required to present negative swab or rapid test results before they entering the city.

A liquor ban was also being implemented and the new curfew hours were from 7 pm to 5 am. Prior to the GCQ, the curfew was from 10 pm to 5am. 

“Muli po akong nakikiusap sa inyong lahat na tayo po ay mag-ingat. Hindi na po sa ating sarili kundi para sa ating pamilya dahil hindi po namin pwedeng bantayan ang lahat ng tao. Tayo po ay magtulungan para masiguro po natin na maibaba ang active cases dito sa Lipa,” Africa pleaded. 

(I am once again appealing to everyone to be careful, not only for ourselves but for your families because we can’t watch over everyone. Let’s help each other so that we can ensure a decrease the number of active cases here in Lipa.)

Based on the COVID-19 status report released by the Batangas Provincial Health Office as of July 31, Lipa City has the second highest number of cases in the province with a total of 107 cases and 33 active cases to date. – Rappler.com