Issuance of travel authority to Region VIII-bound LSIs temporarily suspended –Eleazar

Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar on Thursday said the issuance of travel authority to locally stranded individuals going to Eastern Visayas is temporarily suspended.

"Yes, for two weeks as per instruction of SILG (Secretary of Interior and Local Government) based on the request of the LCEs (local chief executives) of Region VIII," Eleazar told GMA News Online.

At a Laging Handa press briefing, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he has accepted the proposal of local chief executives in the region to "declog" first their quarantine facilities before accepting LSIs.

"Lahat ng pupunta sa Region VIII ay iipunin muna natin saka ihahatid ng barko," Año said.

"Sa ngayon ay puno ang kanilang isolation facility so kung darating na naman 'yung maraming LSI, ang problema nila ay ayaw nila... papaano nila mai-quarantine 'yung mga LSI na ito, ayaw naman nila na home quarantine ang gagawin dito kasi hindi sila sigurado baka lalabag sa protocols," he added.

Reports said the recent spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in Eastern Visayas was due to the arrival of LSIs.

Despite the increase, Año said no deaths were recorded in the region, adding that there were only few critical COVID-19 cases in hospitals.

He said the total number of confirmed cases in the region is 431, in which 392 are active cases. —KBK, GMA News