SOUNDING the alarm of the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Provincial Government of Davao Oriental officially declared a two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from September 8 to 21, 2021.
The Provincial Government broke the news on Friday, September 3, following an emergency meeting led by Governor Nelson Dayanghirang.
The decision to place the province under a stricter quarantine restriction was unanimously agreed upon by all local chief executives of the province.
Among the salient policies under the ECQ include curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., and the imposition of a 24-hour liquor ban.
The Provincial Government will be implementing strict border control to deter non-essential travels. There will be increased visibility of law enforcers who will give citation tickets to violators. Wakes will be limited to only three days.
As of the latest report, Covid-19 cases in the province have already reached 5,583, of which 1,227 are active. Meanwhile, the number of deaths has already reached 159, prompting the Provincial Task Force to heighten protocols to prevent the further spread of the virus.
The Provincial Government has yet to provide more comprehensive guidelines.
Dayanghirang said in a radio interview on Thursday, September 2, that Covid-19 cases in the province have been increasing in recent weeks.
He added the recently detected Delta positive specimens in the province possibly contributed to a surge in cases.
The governor said he called an emergency meeting with the mayors to formalize their request on Friday, September 3.
Dayanghirang said the recommendation comes a day after the entire province recorded 238 daily new cases, the highest since the pandemic started.
"Actually, ang atong (our) provincial hospital, so far puno na gyud kaayo (is already fully occupied). Ang atong (Our) isolation facilities, hapit-hapit na mapuno (is also almost full)," he said.
Prior to the surge, he said the province already anticipated it by adding more bed capacities. It still was not able to anticipate the widespread transmission caused by the highly infectious variant.
Dayanghirang reminded his constituents to minimize their movements around the province to curb the spread of the virus.
The Department of Health-Davao Region, as of August 31, detected 10 Delta positive specimens from Davao Oriental, most of which were from Mati City.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases recently extended the quarantine status of the entire province under general community quarantine with no restrictions until September 7.