All travelers from the NCR Plus bubble and Cebu City and Davao City will be temporarily barred from entering Western Visayas starting today, April 4.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas announced on Saturday night, April 3, that the National Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved their request for a moratorium on flights and trips until April 10.

The suspension of entry to the city, according to Treñas, “will help us secure the safety of our constituents while allowing our health personnel to recuperate and prepare our isolation facilities.”

The NCR Plus bubble is composed of Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna and Cavite. It was placed under the stricter enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) following the spike in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

The city government also came up with “stronger protocols” in a bid to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

Based on the April 3 bulletin issued by the Department of Health (DOH-6), the city has 401 active cases of the COVID-19.

These protocols are as follows:

  • No social gatherings in the meantime;
  • Offices and BPOs to have 30 percent capacity except for the city engineers and architects;
  • Accounting for vouchers for payroll and the like and treasurers for collections;
  • Barangay gyms will gatherings of any kind;
  • Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs ) as instructed to work extra to monitor everyone who has flu-like symptoms and new arrivals and report the same to the OPCEN (operations center);
  • Construction is considered essential and will be allowed subject to protocols of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and on the condition that there should be compliant officers;
  • No parades or procession shall be allowed.

Iloilo City is currently under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).IMT