The provincial government of Pangasinan has extended for the third time the implementation of its extreme enhanced community quarantine (EECQ) for another week.
Through Executive Order (EO) 0019-2020, Governor Amado Espino III extended the EECQ until midnight of April 21. The quarantine was supposed to end midnight of April 14.
“The increase in our number of confirmed cases for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is relatively low with five new cases compared to the previous extensions with nine and 15 new cases then, respectively. But of greater significance in the past nine days is the recovery of seven Covid-19 patients,” the EO read.
The new EO provides special emphasis on the mandatory 12-hour maximum operation of supermarkets, public markets, wet markets, groceries, and other retail establishments engaged in selling basic necessities, as well as the unhampered transit of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
All other regulations of the previous EOs were adopted in the extended EECQ, Espino said.
On March 23, he first issued EO 0015-2020, placing the entire province of Pangasinan under EECQ. He extended the EECQ on March 25 through EO 0015-2020-B, and again on April 5 through EO 0017-2020.
In an interview on Monday, Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief, Dr. Anna Teresa de Guzman, said she recommended the extension of the EECQ in the province for another week.
“More and more people are coming home to the province, including OFWs. And that would require more quarantine period for them,” de Guzman said.
As of 9 a.m. on April 14, Pangasinan had 33 Covid-19 cases, with no new recorded case since April 10. Of the total, eight have recovered, 16 are in hospitals, and nine have died. (PNA)