Quarantine enforcers record people entering, going out of Cotabato City
Local News • 15:30 PM Mon May 18, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
People entering or going out of Cotabato City are obliged to register at checkpoints for identity recording purpose. (Photo by John Unson)
COTABATO CITY --- Authorities tightened today the screening of people getting in and out of the 37 barangays here after two more residents tested positive to COVID-19.
There are now eight confirmed coronavirus infection cases in the city since the country was placed last March under national state of health emergency.
Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said Monday the two new COVID-19 patients, one of them a government employee and the other a student, have both been placed under quarantine under the supervision of physicians.
The 18-year-old student was from Davao City who has just returned here after having been stranded there for weeks due to quarantine travel restrictions.
“Everything is being done to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Cotabato City. I am appealing to local residents to avoid going out of their homes unless extremely necessary. Please stay at home,” said Guiani-Sayadi, chairperson of the city disaster risk reduction and management council.
Screening of people entering Cotabato City from nearby towns in Maguindanao has markedly been stringent since dawn Monday.
The quarantine checkpoints along highways connecting Cotabato City and its southern and northern borders with Maguindanao are manned by health workers and combined personnel of the 1st Marine Brigade and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Brig. Gen. Manuel Abu, Bangsamoro region police director, said Monday he has instructed their units to support the COVID-19 containment efforts of Cotabato City’s local government unit.
“We have enough men out there to help the city government carry out its war versus coronavirus,” Abu said.