QC gov't says unvaccinated residents to have restricted mobility

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday urged residents to follow the city's localized guidelines following the increase of COVID-19 infections in the country.

Belmonte issued the guidelines after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) placed the National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 3.

“We call on our QCitizens to strictly follow minimum health protocols, especially now that we have the Omicron variant in our midst,” Belmonte said.

“Don’t leave anything to chance. We must prioritize our health before anything else so we must obey existing health protocols to be on the safe side,” she added, saying wearing of face masks and social distancing must always be practiced.

Under the released guidelines, mobility of unvaccinated individuals will be restricted, except when obtaining essential goods and services such as buying food or medicine, medical appointments, vaccination, passport appointments, and other appointments for government services.

Unvaccinated individuals would also be allowed to go out when necessary for work in a permitted business or for individual outdoor exercise.

Meanwhile, fully vaccinated individuals, regardless of age, can leave home even for non-essential reasons such as dining, shopping, and entering cinemas, provided they can present their vaccine card and valid ID prior to entry into the concerned establishment.

The Quezon City mayor said the capacity of establishments is reduced to 30% indoor and 60% outdoor, adding that it can reach 60% indoor and 80% outdoor when the 20% bonus for reaching the vaccination target and a 10% bonus for having a Safety Seal are added.

The operation of native carnivals or “peryahan” and kid amusement industries, venues with live voice or wind-instrument performers, videoke or karaoke bars, clubs, concert halls, and theaters is also suspended.

Venues for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE), cinema and movie houses, venues for social events, tourist attractions are allowed to operate, providing that residents must use the KyusiPasss contact tracing app and follow appropriate capacity for indoor and outdoor venues.

Belmonte also prohibited minors from loitering in public places from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The government's COVID-19 task force has placed the National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022 following the sharp increase in new coronavirus infections in the country.

The Philippines on Tuesday posted 5,434 additional COVID-19 infections, raising the country's total tally to 2,861,119.—LDF, GMA News