By Chito Chavez
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said city hall will enforce a four day work-week for its employees in light of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) scare.
Mayor Joy Belmonte (Mayor Joy Belmonte Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
She also asked other government offices to adopt the same scheme where personnel will work shifting hours.
Appealing for public understanding, Belmonte said she was left with no option but to “require everyone who does not have any business or no important reason to go outside to stay at home" in reference to city hall workers.
As a precautionary measure, Belmonte said the city government will rent establishments to be used as quarantine facilities in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Quezon City is the most populous city in Metro Manila with some 2.9 million people, where five cases of the new illness was recorded as of Thursday.
Belmonte added that the city will also prohibit mass gatherings such as sports events, beauty pageants, and fiesta celebrations in compliance with the resolution of a government inter-agency task force to place Metro Manila under "community quarantine."
"We will be renting establishments to try to augment quarantine facilities so people do not have to be crowded inside their houses. They can actually be quarantined in a separate facility with their own rooms," she added.
The national government has placed Metro Manila under community quarantine, which will shut land, air, and sea travel to and from Metro Manila from March 15 to April 14, except for the delivery of food and essential supplies.
Metro Manila was placed on community quarantine status with the rise of the COVID-19 cases in the region.