KALINGA – Tinglayan Mayor Sacrament Gumilab has placed the entire municipality under lockdown or To-or in the local dialect from Dec. 6 - 21, due to the spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
Gumilab issued an executive order on the ‘To-or’ since COVID-19 has spread among key officials, employees, and residents of Mallango, Tinglayan, Butbut Proper, and Poblacion here.
He said there are already 98 COVID-19 positive cases reported since November 16 and "increasing at a very fast pace."
Gumilab said the implementation of the lockdown seeks to "prevent, contain, and eliminate" the virus and to provide the contact tracers unhampered movement.
Under the order, returning residents and locally stranded individuals are barred from entering since all isolation units are already full.
Entry and exit in Tinglayan is not allowed except for those in transit on the National Highway. Residents are allowed to go out for necessities within their barangays, but are only allowed outside for medical emergency reasons and if confirmed by the Municipal Health Officer.
All barangays were advised to put up check-points to ensure the strict implementation of the executive order.
Tinglayan is one of the most visited areas in Kalinga to meet Whang-od, the country's oldest "mambabatok" tattoo artist.
On Dec.7, the province recorded nine new COVID-19 cases, six of which are from Tinglayan.
The province has a total of 447 confirmed cases since June, 2020, with 299 recoveries, and one death.