Baguio warns 'wide-scale lockdown' if folks ignore Covid-19 regulations

By Liza Agoot 

BAGUIO CITY — The local government here said it will declare "wide-scale lockdowns" if residents continue to ignore minimum health standards to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
    Mayor Benjamin Magalong said “wide-scale lockdowns will continue to be implemented over areas that will exhibit uncooperative behavior as the city tightens measures in anticipation of new surges due to increased people mobility and the presence of new and more dangerous variants."
    This, after the city government ordered the lockdown of three purok (sub-villages) in Barangay Irisan with several residents not complying with health protocols.
    Irisan is the city’s biggest village out of the 128 with over 35,000 population.
    Aileen Refuerzo, public information office chief, said in recent months, the city’s lockdown orders had been limited to the household or workplace of the positive cases but special cases such as overt and repeated violations of health protocols warrant wider scope lockdowns based on the recommendations of the medical officers.
    Observance of basic health protocols include proper use of face masks, face shields, and physical distancing in public places.
Refuerzo said the lockdown of the three sub-villages is not the same as the hard lockdown in the past.
    The order wasfor a week and will not include the APORs (Authorized Persons Outside of Residences), and a member of each affected family will also be allowed to go out to buy necessities.
    “Lockdown impositions had been included in the city’s Covid-19 control strategies and the mechanism was based on the     Application of the Zoning Containment Strategy of the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases,” Refuerzo said.

The city had 543 active cases, as of July 9. -- PNA