Cabanatuan sets new guidelines on wakes, curfew

By Marilyn Galang

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – Mayor Myca Elizabeth Vergara has issued an executive order (EO) providing new guidelines in preventing further spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) here from Aug. 6-20. 

Cabanatuan remains under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the least stringent among quarantine restrictions.
    Under the guidelines, non-APOR (authorized persons outside residence) who will visit other villages shall have to coordinate with the head of the place.
    Non-APOR entering the city, meanwhile, would have to use a Quick Response or QR Code generated through the MyCabanatuan application, and present any valid identification card and medical clearance certificate issued by the city or municipal health office of their origin, negative result of an antigen, saliva or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test conducted two days before the trip and Covid-19 vaccination card for fully inoculated travelers.

Curfew hours shall be from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., except for APOR, pharmacies, 24-hour convenience stores, food delivery/ take out/ drive-through services, gasoline stations and funeral services, the EO said.

All deaths within such period will be treated as Covid-19-related unless documents showed otherwise, it added.

Burial or cremation has to be made within 12 hours, and no public viewing or funeral wake as well as embalming shall be allowed for suspect, probable and confirmed Covid-19 deaths.

The EO, however, allows a funeral wake of up to two days for non-Covid-19 deaths but only family members can attend.

The window hours for buying and selling liquor shall be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a limited volume of four bottles or cans of beer or two bottles of wine or one bottle of hard liquor per individual per day. Drinking can only be done inside the house among people living in the same household and stops at the start of curfew hours, the measure also provides.

Meanwhile, four senior citizens aged 63 to 67 are among the new confirmed cases of Covid-19 here, bringing to 113 the total number of active infections as of Aug. 2.

The seniors, all males, came from Barangays Bangad, H. Concepcion, Kapitan Pepe and Sangitan East, the report from the City Health Office showed. The youngest of the other patients is 19, it added.

Four patients, on the other hand, have recovered.

The latest tally brought to 3,115 the total number of Covid-19 cases in the city, out of whom 2,835 have fully recovered and 167 have died. -- PNA