By Hilda Austria / Philippine News Agency
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – The Pangasinan Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 is requesting the national government to place the whole province, including Dagupan City, under general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions from Sept. 1 to 15.
“The escalation of the quarantine risk qualification to GCQ with heightened restrictions shall allow us to implement more stringent protocols to curb the rapid spread of the dreaded disease,” Gov. Amado Espino III said in his letter to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Espino coursed the request through Region 1 (Ilocos)-IATF Chairperson and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-1 Julie Daquioag.
The province is currently under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Enclosed in his letter dated Aug. 27 and posted on the provincial government’s Facebook page on Saturday (Aug. 28) afternoon is Resolution No. 5 of the Pangasinan IATF.
“There has been an unusual increase in COVID-19 cases in the province, whereas from August 21, the average daily new cases jumped from 93 to 388, and on August 26, the province and Dagupan City recorded 592 new cases, the highest number of cases in one day, reaching a total of 18,526 confirmed cases,” the resolution reads.
On Friday, the province logged another single-day record of new infections at 721.
It said public and private hospitals in Pangasinan have reached their maximum dedicated bed capacity for COVID-19 cases, forcing the consideration of alternative quarantine facilities such as hotels, lodging facilities, and classrooms.
The resolution was signed by the members of the Pangasinan IATF headed by Espino.
Espino earlier asked local government units to implement emergency measures to address the recent spike of new cases of COVID-19 in Pangasinan.
He said these measures are the reinstating of market schedules, regulation of dine-in services, entertainment, and recreational venues, strict regulation or monitoring of social gatherings for funeral wakes, and Oplan Sita. (PNA) – jlo
