By JJ Landingin
BAGUIO CITY-- Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong signed Executive Order (EO) 65 on Monday, placing the city under community quarantine to help stem the tide of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the city.
Magalong issued the order even as he also confirmed the second case of a patient who may have contracted the COVID-19 in the city.
The mayor said he signed the EO after he noted that tourists continued to flock to the city despite the current health epidemic, and the closure of parks, night markets and imposition of a curfew that started at 10 p.m.
The members of the City Council, the executive department, headed by Magalong, and other concerned agencies held an emergency meeting at the Multipurpose Hall of the Baguio City Hall.
It was to step-up efforts of the city in implementing preventive and precautionary measures to prepare for the worst scenario regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Magalong, the community quarantine would not mean a lockdown in Baguio City as people's movement will not be totally restricted.
Magalong also disclosed that he was only advised about the new COVID-19 case on Monday morning.
He said a recent Baguio guest tested positive in Manila after attending a government-sponsored seminar in the city over the weekend. The female patient was said to be asymptomatic the whole time she was in the seminar here.
Baguio City Health Department officers are now conducting contact tracing, and also asking the management of the hotel where she stayed to disinfect their premises and advice hotel staff and personnel to be available for testing.