Metro Manila won’t be the only place to be put on lockdown (AKA “community quarantine”). Bohol, one of the Philippines’ most popular tourist destinations, will be joining the quarantine club from March 16 to 20 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the island, provincial Governor Arthur Yap announced today.
He said tourists will not be allowed to come onto the island, although they will be allowed to leave.
“If people want to leave, they are allowed to leave,” Yap said. “That’s why this is not a lockdown. A lockdown means nobody comes in and nobody goes out. A lockdown means you stay in your home. You cannot go out… This is a community quarantine.”
The Philippine Star reports that, as of today, there have been no COVID-19 patients in Bohol, although there are two people under observation: a French tourist who recently went to Vietnam, and a Filipino seaman who went to Singapore and Manila.
Yap told the Bohol Chronicle that they will launch an information drive during the quarantine period to teach locals how best to avoid the coronavirus. He added that they plan to convert the Old Tagbilaran City Airport into a 60-bed “isolation center” for those who have fallen seriously ill.
Bohol is known for being the home of the geological formation Chocolate Hills and the tarsier, a small, leaping primate.
Last night, President Rodrigo Duterte announced a one-month lockdown of Metro Manila after five patients died of COVID-19, though employees from nearby areas can still enter and leave the city as long as they provide proof that their offices are located in Metro Manila.
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