A local poses for a souvenir photo at the Nativity scene fronting the Tacloban City Hall amid the pandemic. (Photo by TCIO)
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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.
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Tacloban City Hall Christmas display (Photo by TCIO) |
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 (TCIO) 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.
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Tacloban City Hall Christmas display (Photo by TCIO) |
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).
(Ronald O. Reyes/SunStar Philippines)