Pateros Mayor Miguel "Ike" Ponce III issued Saturday an executive order setting new quarantine rules including longer curfew hours in the municipality amid the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant.
The Delta variant is a strain of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), that was first identified in India.
Ponce issued Executive Order No. 20 for the implementation of rules and policies under a general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions that will be in effect from July 23 to 31.
He said “the discovery and confirmation of the local transmission of the deadly and more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 Virus has prompted the IATF to recommend to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to place the National Capital Region and other provinces under a General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions.”
The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said it has identified 17 new Delta variant cases to bring the total in the country to 64.
Of the 17, 12 are local cases consisting of nine in Metro Manila and three from the CALABARZON area. Four are still being verified while one is a returning overseas Filipino (ROF).
On Thursday, the DOH reported 12 new Delta variant cases including two in Pasig and one in Taguig.
Ponce set the new curfew hours in Pateros from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. in accordance with the unified curfew hours set by the Metro Manila Council (MMC).
In the order, the mayor set the following guidelines:
a) Food preparation establishments such as commissaries, restaurants. and eateries may operate with their indoor dine-in services at the venue or seating capacity of 20 percent only and with their all fresco or outdoor dine-in services at the venue or seating capacity of 50 percent only;
b) Personal care services such as beauty salons, beauty parlors, barbershops and nail spas, may operate up to 30 percent of venue or seating capacity. For this purpose, these establishments shall only provide services that can accommodate the wearing of face masks at all times by patrons/clients and service providers;
c) Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) events and social events in venue establishments shall not be allowed;
d) Outdoor tourist attractions as may be identified by the Department of Tourism shall remain to be allowed at 30 percent venue capacity with strict adherence to minimum public health standards;
e) Under the Safety Seal Certification Program, business establishments awarded Safety Seal Certifications shall be allowed to operate at an additional 10 percentage points beyond the prescribed on-site capacity or venue/seating capacity, whichever is applicable;
f) Indoor sports courts and venues and indoor tourist attractions shall not be allowed to operate;
g) Specialized markets of the DOT such as staycations without age restrictions shall remain to be allowed at such capacities, protocols. and restrictions as may be imposed by the DOT;
h) Interzonal travel and point-to-point travel to areas under General Community Quarantine and Modified General Community Quarantine shall be allowed without age restrictions subject to strict adherence to minimum health protocol and those restrictions as may be imposed by the DOT and the local government unit of destination;
i) Religious gatherings shall be allowed up to 30 percent of the venue capacity. The religious denominations should strictly observe their submitted protocols and the minimum public health standard. Gatherings for necrological services, wakes, inurnment, funerals for those who died of causes other than COVID-19 shall be allowed, provided that the same shall be limited to immediate family members, upon satisfactory proof of their relationship with the deceased and with full compliance with the prescribed minimum public health standards for the duration of the activity Wakes for the deceased of causes other than COVID-19 and shall be strictly limited to three days.
Ponce added that “children below 18 years of age and senior citizens above 65 years old, unless fully vaccinated, shall not be allowed outside their residence except in cases of emergencies or when attending to essentials when no other member of the family is available to attend to it.”