LEYTE province and Tacloban City will strictly prohibit the traditional caroling and Christmas parties this holiday season to avoid mass gatherings amid the spike in coronavirus infections.

“We are expecting every Leyteño to understand and to follow the protocols as we continue our fight against the coronavirus,” said Palo, Leyte Mayor Ann Petilla after attending the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) meeting on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

Petilla added that the policy of the provincial government will help stop the local transmission of the disease.

In Palo town alone, Petilla said it already recorded a total of 319 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 280 recoveries, as of December 3.

Meanwhile, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez issued an executive order extending the implementation of community quarantine measures in the region’s first highly urbanized city.

The said executive order is in accordance with the IATF omnibus guidelines on the implementation of community quarantine in the country from December 1 to 31, 2020.

“Among the salient features are the prohibition of face-to-face caroling and prohibition on the celebration of face-to-face Christmas parties or social gatherings in consideration of the Christmas season by groups, organizations, offices, establishments, and any similar institutions,” said the Tacloban City Information Office in a statement.

Petilla earlier issued an order extending the placing of the entire province of Leyte under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) from December 1 to 31, 2020.

As of Friday, December 4, the Department of Health-Eastern Visayas reported that the region’s total number of coronavirus cases is at 8,949, with 8,267 total recoveries (92.38 percent), 95 deaths (1.06 percent), and 587 active cases (6.56 percent). (SunStar Philippines)