Bohol suspends inbound sea and air travel for 2 weeks

TAGBILARAN CITY - The province of Bohol will temporarily impose a ban on travel via air and sea for 14 days with some exceptions starting on Friday, August 6, to prevent further spread of the Delta variant of the  coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In an executive order issued on Tuesday, Bohol Governor Arthur Yap said domestic travel via air and sea to the province will be suspended from August 6  up to August 20.

"This is to give local government units time to drive an aggressive program to vaccinate the senior citizens, those with comorbidities and to support our OFWs who need to be deployed abroad quickly," according to the executive order no. 37 series of 2021.

Bohol, a popular tourist destination, is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two weeks suspension excluded travel of cargoes and authorized persons outside residences (APORs) or those with official and essential businesses.

These APORs include health workers on official business, authorized government officials, those traveling for medical or humanitarian reasons, returning overseas Filipino workers, persons providing basic services and public utilities; and bank personnel and other bank employees who shall come to the province with the purpose of replenishing the cash funds and other supplies which are necessary for the continuous service of the different banks.

The outbound travel shall continue but this will be subject to quarantine protocols of destination LGUs.

The APORs are required to have negative 72 hours RT-PCR test result and S-pass Travel Coordination Permit.

For the APORs who are staying for less than 5 days have limited movement according to an approved itinerary, limited interaction with locals and they can only stay in either designated quarantine hotel or the LGU's temporary treatment and monitoring facilities.

The APORs who are staying for more than 5 days are required to undergo repeat RT-PCR testing on the 5th day of stay and stay in quarantine while the result is not yet released. When result is negative, can already go outside the APOR bubble or in the case of OFWs, can already go home.

As of Tuesday, Bohol has recorded at least 9,966 COVID-19 infections and 8,942 recoveries. There are 816 active cases and 208 deaths.

The province of Bohol has recorded six cases of the COVID-19 variants.

There were 163,558 Boholanos who were fully vaccinated out of 315, 468 total target population, report from the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force as of July 31. -- BAP, GMA News