GUIMARAS EASES BORDER RESTRICTIONS

ILOILO CITY— Travel restrictions to Guimaras have been further relaxed amid minimal COVID-19 cases on the island province.

Guimaras Gov. Samuel Gumarin on May 16 issued an executive order allowing residents of Western Visayas to travel to the island without the need to present vaccination cards except those with COVID-19 or suspected to carry the coronavirus disease.

Western Visayas is composed of the provinces of Guimaras, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Antique and Negros Occidental.

However, all guests are required to fill out health declaration forms and observe minimum health standards, including the wearing of masks.

Unvaxxed must be negative

Unvaccinated travelers coming from outside the region are still required to present a negative swab test result.

Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz and Guimaras are under the least restrictive alert level 1 while Antique and Negros Occidental are under alert level 2.

The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas reported two new cases and 15 deaths in the region on May 18.

But no COVID-19 case has been reported in Guimaras from May 5 to May 18, according to a statement from the provincial government.

The average number of daily cases in the region have dropped to seven as of May 8, down from 828 in January this year.

Amid the drop in cases, the DOH and local governments in Iloilo have been conducting tracing of close contacts of three confirmed cases of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.

The three cases all involved fully vaccinated persons. Two were residents of Pavia and Zarraga towns and were locally transmitted while the other involved a returning overseas Filipino from Iloilo City.

FACEBOOK PAGE —PHOTO FROM GUIMARAS TOURISM EAT ALL YOU CAN Visitors and residents take advantage of an “eat-all-you-can” spread of mangoes during the Manggahan Festival as Guimaras restrictions are relaxed due to fewer cases of COVID-19.