Fearing Covid-19, Zambo mayor suspends air, sea, land travels

ZAMBOANGA CITY – After barring all ships from Malaysia, Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar now has suspended all land, air and sea travel to Zamboanga City in southern Philippines as part of an urgent measure to prevent the entry of the deadly coronavirus disease, or Covid-19.

Malaysia has nearly 200 Covid-19 cases and 15 of them in Sabah. So far, Zamboanga City remains free from the deadly disease, at least for now. But Salazar did not say how long the suspension would last, but this will not affect the transport of goods and supplies to Zamboanga, including ships departing from here.

“This suspension does not cover movement of goods, supplies and outgoing passenger trips. This is not a lock down, but an urgent preventive measure to ensure the safety of everybody here from the coronavirus disease,” she said.

The mayor also announced the creation of the Zamboanga Task Force Covid-19 Operations Center manned 24 hours a day and three hotline numbers 0966-1754298, 0917-7113536 and 955-9601 to address questions and health concerns of residents.

Salazar also imposed a 4-day work week on all office-based and non-frontline service employees of the local government effective Monday, and she also revoked all approved local and international travels of local government officials, and even flag ceremonies in front of City Hall were also suspended as part of a precautionary health measure.

She also ordered all commercial establishments to put up so-called sanitation zones and mandatory temperature checks on people going to malls, shopping centers, restaurants and hotels, among others.

Some residents blamed President Rodrigo Duterte for the spread of the Covid-19 in the country for allowing Chinese tourists, and even those from the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province where the deadly disease originated and broke out in December last year.

“Pinayagan ni Duterte yun mga Chinese tourists na pumasok (sa bansa) kahit na kalat na yun Covid(-19) na yan. O, sino ba ang nahihirapan ngayon, eh di ba tayong lahat? Ano ang magagawa ngayon ni Duterte, lockdown na tayo, lockdown rin sa Maynila, sa Davao ganoon rin at sa iba pang lugar,” one local resident said.

Duterte ordered the temporary travel ban on all travellers coming from Hubei only on January 31, a day after the Department of Health confirmed its first Codid-19 case – despite widespread public clamor for the President to impose a travel ban all Chinese tourists to the Philippines.

But he rejected the calls fearing a backlash from Beijing, and so was Health Secretary Francisco Duque, saying, China might protest for not imposing the same restriction on other countries.

Stocks of alcohol have run out at Yubenco Supermarket in Zamboanga City after residents resorted to panic buying due to Covid-19 scare. (Zamboanga Post)

Local residents have resorted to panic buying in supermarkets and groceries and supplies of alcohol had ran out. Many scrupulous people have started selling alcohol on Facebook and other social media platform, but the prices were exorbitant – a 500ml bottle of alcohol which sells for P70 in supermarkets are now priced at P750 each bottle.

The Department of Trade has limited the sale of alcohol to only 2 bottles per person. Even the expensive disinfectant spray which sells for P490 for a can of 510 grams in supermarkets also ran out of stocks.

The lockdown imposed by Duterte in the National Capital Region and the spike in Covid-19 infections in the country triggered panic buying here, and also in other places in the South.

The Department of Health said the country now has dozens of Covid-19 cases and 8 people had died so far from the disease which up to now has no known cures. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease pandemic after it spread to over 114 countries and affected 118,000 with over 4,000 people dead from the infection, believed to have originated from bats. (Zamboanga Post)

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