Baguio closes several tourist spots over community quarantine

Baguio City has temporarily closed down some of its famous tourist spots as it declared a community quarantine on Monday amid the country's battle against the further spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Mayor Benjamin Magalong signed an executive order which temporarily closed the following city-administered facilities to prevent non-essential mass gatherings:

• Burnham Children's Park
• Dominican Hill and Heritage Park
• Mines View Park
• Wright Park
• Baguio Convention Center
• Baguio Botanical Center
• Baguio City Public Library
• other similar public spaces

Bars, KTVs, theaters, movie houses, recreational centers, spas, massage parlors, and other similar establishments were also closed during the one-month quarantine period.

Businesses providing essential services such as pharmacies, groceries, banks, internet shops, clinics, hotels, and transient houses remained open but with limited operations.

Restaurants would continue to operate but should offer take-out and delivery services only.

Mobility

The local government also limited the entry to the Summer Capital of the Philippines only to those with essential travel purposes, employment, or business in the city.

Submission of health declaration forms and temperature screenings were required at checkpoints that were set up at strategic access points.

Cargo and supply deliveries to and from the city, however, would be unhampered.

Meanwhile, high-risk residents--those who were aged 60 and above, immunocompromised, pregnant, minors, or with a history of pulmonary diseases--were advised to stay home.

Class, work suspensions, curfew

Class suspensions in the city were extended up to April 15, 2020. Technical-vocational institutions, as well as tutorial and review centers, were temporarily closed.

Government offices remained open but may adopt alternative work arrangements to protect the welfare of public servants.

Work-from-home set-ups were also being advised for the private sector.

A curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. would be enforced from March 16 to April 15, 2020.

Employees with valid IDs, health workers, and government officials were among those who would be exempted from the said protocol. — DVM, GMA News