Village in Bontoc temporarily bars LSIs

October 25, 2020 Community Billboard

The mayor of Bontoc town, Mountain Province has ordered the lockdown of a village to temporarily bar the entry of locally stranded individuals (LSIs), especially those from the National Capital Region (NCR).
In a memorandum order issued on Friday, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey said the municipal inter-agency task force addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) health crisis has been informed of the continuous influx of LSIs from the NCR and other places into Barangay Bayyo since the Mountain Province was placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Odsey said in the order that the LSIs outnumber the municipal health office personnel and Bayyo’s barangay health workers who monitor the entry of returnees, as well as the number of beds and quarantine facilities where the LSIs must complete their mandatory 14-day quarantine.
He said they are wary of LSIs coming from the NCR due to the high incidence of Covid-19 in the region. Bontoc’s latest Covid-19 case is a 32-year-old male LSI who went home to Bayyo. He is confined at the Bontoc General Hospital.
Bontoc accounts for 10 of the Mountain Province’s 25 confirmed cases, the least in the Cordillera region. As of October 16, the region has 713 active cases and 1,775 recoveries. (PNA)