This Week in Cebu and Bohol (May 23 to 29, 2021)

The local government of Bohol strictly implements the use of the COVID-19 Contact Tracing System (CCTS) card for anyone who enters any registered establishment. These registered establishments—public and private—must also provide a Quick reaction-coded scanning terminal to gather visitors’ CCTS card information before entering the establishment [1].

Bohol requires all business establishments, government offices, economic enterprises, and public utility terminals to register in the contact tracing system. Meanwhile, the CCTS covers all residents of Bohol within the ages of 15 years old and above, returning residents, authorized persons outside of the residence, and travelers.

Last May 10, the Provincial Board held a regular session, formalizing the easing of travel protocols for all inbound travelers for Cebu province. The provincial government’s legislative body approved the new regulation and was also certified as urgent by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. In the new ordinance, the eased travel protocols for all domestic and overseas travelers to the province were made into local laws.

Under the new ordinance, it eliminated the submission of the negative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Instead, inbound travelers to Cebu province will only have to submit medical certificates. Meanwhile, returning residents from abroad must be swabbed for COVID-19 and must undergo mandatory quarantine [2].

The recently opened vaccination site, the University of Cebu (UC) Senior High School campus, started to roll out Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines last May 17. The local government inoculated sixty individuals with the Pfizer vaccine. During the program, only two out of the sixty individuals experienced mild adverse effects from the vaccine. Other than the UC Senior High School campus, the other vaccination sites in the city are at the UC Banilad Campus, Robinsons Galleria, and SM Seaside City Cebu [3].

Visit Yoorekka for more guidelines in Ilocos and COVID-19 updates.