Lamut closes gateways due to Covid concerns

LAMUT, Ifugao -- After more than a week of the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine CQ and with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in nearby areas, the local chief executive announced that all entries to and from this municipality dubbed the “Gateway to Ifugao” will be closed for the protection of everybody.

Mayor Mariano Buyagawan, Jr. in his advisory said the Lamut Bridge connecting the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao and other entry points of the municipality will be closed to all commuters starting night of March 26 until further notice.

“The time has come and we are very sorry but we have to close the Lamut Bridge,” Buyagawan stated. There will be no entry of commuters coming inside the municipality of Lamut and province of Ifugao except on health emergencies, medical attention outside province and for health workers. It is also closed to all Ifugao commuters going outside the province.

Alternate entrances

in barangay Ambasa and Pieza are now also totally closed to commuters.

The mayor appealed to the public for more understanding on the inconvenience that this closure will create but foremost is for the interest and safety of the people of Lamut and province as a whole.

Health officials on Monday confirmed the death of the first COVID-19 fatality in the Cagayan Valley Region, 65 year old male confined at the Region 02 Trauma & Medical Center in Bayombong, N. Vizcaya.

There are now also four COVID cases in the Cordillera region, three of them in Baguio City.

As the different barangay local government units continue to implement community quarantine and social distancing guidelines and strengthen monitoring of persons under monitoring and persons under investigation, Buyagawan urged his constituents to “Please stay home and pray." Philippine