Baguio ban on leisure travelers extended to Sept. 26

BAGUIO’S BAN on non-essential travelers has been extended to Sept.26, the local government announced over the weekend, as cases continue to increase in the popular mountain city tourist destination.

“There is a need to continue implementing these restrictions on activities and movements to address the prevailing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) situation in the city,” Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said in a statement.

On Sept. 18, the city health office recorded 411 new cases, the second highest daily tally after 289 on Sept. 11, 2021.

Mr. Magalong, however, said the high count could be attributed to “dumping of results” after an accumulation due to high volume of samples lined up for testing.

The city has started requiring RTPCR testing for all close contacts of positive patients.

“In the past seven days, our average number of cases per day is 240, and our number of barangays with positive cases has gone up to 119 or 92.25%,” the mayor said.

The city had 21,309 total COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 425 deaths and 17,919 recoveries. There were 2,965 active cases.

The city, currently under the lowest lockdown level, has a pending request with the national COVID-19 task force to shift to the general community quarantine with heightened restrictions.

Last week, the city’s border control teams reported a total of 456 travelers who were banned entry during the period Sept. 1 to 12 for lack of documents proving essential purpose, according to the city government. —