ILOILO CITY – Amid an Modified Enhance Community Quarantine (MECQ) status, the city government has implemented a surgical lockdown on six specific areas and tightened borders to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Due to clustered COVID-19 cases, Mayor Jerry Treñas ordered surgical lockdowns in specific areas in Barangays Sto. Niño Sur, Quintin Salas, Calajunan, Dulonan, and Calumpang.
The surgical lockdown started Tuesday and is expected to end by May 28 but depends if new cases are recorded.
Under the surgical lockdown, the city government imposed an 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily curfew and only Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APORs) are allowed to go out.
Based on the data of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 (Western Visayas), Iloilo City has almost 1,100 active cases of COVID-19.
Forty-five new COVID-19 cases here were recorded as of 12 noon May 26. On May 25, 78 new COVID-19 cases were also recorded in this city.
The city government started its strict implementation of border checkpoints Wednesday. Different units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have been deployed to make sure that only APORs can gain entry to Iloilo City.
The strict checkpoints at the borders caused heavy traffic early Wednesday morning as police were checking the IDs of those coming from towns in Iloilo.