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This Week in Cebu and Bohol (May 1 to 7, 2022)
The provinces of Cebu and Bohol remain under COVID-19 Alert Level 2 until May 15.
By: Mira Maestrecampo | May 01, 2022
Generally, Cebu and Bohol provinces are still under Alert Level 2 until May 15, 2022. But some main cities in Cebu remain under Alert Level 1: Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City.
In the new normal, travel restrictions are further eased, encouraging more foreign visitors to come and visit. Cebu expresses its warm welcome to foreign tourists and travelers during a familiarization event, encouraging more tourist arrivals to further boosting of the tourism industry here in the country.
More travel buses and entertainment establishments reopen, reviving the economy and business sector of Cebu and Bohol.
Vaccination in some local areas is still pushed, with more strategies and efforts by the local government and its respective health sectors.
Quarantine News: Cebu alert levels split among its areas
The entire province of Cebu is currently classified under Alert Level 2. Among the whole island of Cebu, only Cebu City, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay City have been placed under Alert Level 1 or considered the new normal alert level status.
According to the Chief Pathologist of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, the town had already recorded successfully inoculating 77.28% of its general population and 95.62% of its senior citizens. However, she added that the vaccination data is still being reviewed to coincide with the National Vaccination Operations Center data.
For an area or a specific town to be deescalated to Alert Level 1, its respective local government unit must reach a target of 70% of its total population and 70% of its senior citizens who are eligible to be vaccinated.
On another important note, Loreche also said that an estimated 420,000 individuals can get their second booster shot as soon as DOH-7 receives a go signal to begin the vaccination of booster shots to eligible individuals and residents.
Travel Updates
Cebu welcomes foreigners to visit more, given eased travel restrictions.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia encourages foreign visitors to visit Cebu, saying they are welcome to enter and see the province.
The governor expressed this during the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Gala Dinner, which was recently held last April. The event was hosted by the Cebu Provincial Government and the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, with attendants composed chiefly of foreign delegates.
Garcia, in her speech, encouraged the foreign delegates to lengthen their stay to explore more of Cebu’s tourist spots, attractions, natural sites, and landmarks and discover more of Cebu’s rich culture and tradition.
She added that Cebu has been yearning for foreign tourists to visit Cebu after more than two years of travel hiatus because of the pandemic.
Regarding the event, officials of the ADB came to visit Cebu for familiarization purposes. ADB board members, officials, and advisors see every year to be familiarized with the host nation. Cebu is one of the ADB-funded projects in the country.
The construction of the Terminal 2 of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is one of the significant contributions supported and funded by ADB.
Meanwhile, prominent airline Cebu Pacific announces its return to pre-pandemic passenger capacity in 2024, despite already implementing a 100% domestic passenger capacity. [3
Since pandemic restrictions are still being implemented in other areas outside the country, Chief Commercial Officer Xander Lao is hopeful that Cebu Pacific will fully return to its pre-pandemic state around 2023 to 2024.
Currently, Manila domestic flights are more than a hundred percent in terms of capacity, Lao added.
Bohol launches new buses taking a new route.
In Bohol, Southern Star Bus Transit Inc. launches a Bohol to Davao bus route after a delay in the inauguration due to the pandemic.
Two air-conditioned buses were deployed and will take the route between Tagbilaran City in Bohol and Davao City via a roll-on-roll-off (RORO) vessel.
The said buses can accommodate 53 passengers each bus. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the bus will depart Tagbilaran City. It will also pass by Tubigon, Talibon, Ubay, and Jagna, which will then be bound to Nasipit via RORO vessel. The vessel shall then cross Butuan City, bound for Davao City.
SSBTI Bohol Branch Manager John Lumacang said that the whole trip shall take 15 hours and cost PhP1,200 per trip. However, the transportation fee is exclusive only to the terminal and RORO fees. The payment would also vary depending on the passenger’s preferred sea vessel trip—economy or air-conditioning.
Sports establishments in Cebu re-opened
After two years, the 10-lane, Olympic-size pool reopened in Cebu, and swimmers are more than excited about this news.
The Cebu City Sports Commission led the reopening of the Cebu City Sports Center, spearheaded by Chairman John Pages together with Cebu City Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, along with participating stakeholders.
Cebu swimmers can now go back to using the swimming pool located at the sports facility, which would also help the affected employees since the closure last 2020.
Shopping Update: Ayala Malls offers more exciting lifestyle activities this year!
Ayala Malls launches more family activities with more mall events, reopening stalls, new store openings, and more dining options.
However, despite the eased restrictions, the safety and health of the public are still of high priority; that is why health protocols are still rigidly followed and implemented inside the mall premises. Ayala Malls aims to maximize family time and enjoyment without any worries.
Ayala Malls, as popularly known, boasts of its leisure experience in shopping and dining. So, Ayala Malls is set to expand and establish more shopping and dining options for maximum and safe enjoyment of every family.
One of the activities to launch at Ayala Malls is the face-to-face concerts with Alive!, which started to launch last April. To add more excitement, there is also the Happy Play Music Festival this coming May 30, which will feature a series of concerts from well-known bands like Sandwich, 6cyclemind, Moonstar88, Imago, and Gracenote front in the said music festival.
Ayala Malls Cinemas have also reopened, so that mall shoppers can bring back the joy of watching their favorite movies on the big screen.
The excitement does not stop there, as Ayala Malls have also established its first-ever wellness specialty zone that offers genuine relaxation and promotes self-care.
With these new and exciting amenities and lifestyle shops, Ayala Malls continues to conceptualize features that shall pioneer within Visayas and Mindanao areas. Such would be the Mendokoro, a new Japanese restaurant opening for the first time at Cebu IT Park. Another dining option to be excited about is the Nespresso café, which will launch at Ayala Center Cebu this July 2022.
Vaccination Updates: Vaccination among children; teenagers are further pushed to prep for face-to-face classes.
With the presumable reopening of the face-to-face classes, the Visayas Vaccination Operation Center announced that teachers and children should be fully vaccinated.
Based on data from DOH-7, there is a significant increase in the number of children already vaccinated, but health authorities are still encouraging more of the pediatric population to be inoculated.
The health authorities are still in the efforts of the house-to-house vaccination, which was founded to effectively push the vaccination in localities in some areas. More activities are also proposed to further encourage the children to get vaccinated.
As of writing, 62% of the pediatric population in Metro Cebu have been successfully vaccinated. [7]
On the other hand, Bohol, still being placed under Alert Level 2, reports a vaccination accomplishment rate of only 65%. With this, Bohol cannot allow entire operations of economic establishments due to Inter-Agency Task Force’s policy that establishments with a closed area are only allowed to operate at 50% capacity and 70% capacity in open spaces.
Bohol will need to reach 80% of fully vaccinated individuals among its population for areas to be allowed full operational capacity.
Health News: Cebu indicates low rates of active cases despite crowded events.
Despite numerous campaign rallies during this current election period, more local areas in Cebu remain COVID-free, as confirmed by Emergency Operations Center Deputy Chief Implementer Councilor Joel Garganera, as of data acquired during the last week of April.
As of recent statistics, only 16 barangays have reported active cases, but despite this, Cebu still exhibits a low rate of cases and, at the same time, a reminder to not be complacent because the virus is still present.
Visit Yoorekka Magazine for more travel and COVID-19 updates and guidelines in Cebu and Bohol!
All details and information in this article are true and accurate as of the publication date. However, while we are making our utmost effort to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the condition surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be unpredictable, and the situation is developing rapidly. Hence, some information and recommendations may have changed since this article was published. For the latest advice, visit DOH and your LGU's official websites.
Sources:
[1] https://bit.ly/3kqy73U
[2] https://bit.ly/37PQX1L
[3] https://bit.ly/3rZlMb5
[4] https://bit.ly/3F5J4S3
[5] https://bit.ly/3vUr1K7
[6] https://bit.ly/38IUCyt
[7] https://bit.ly/3OMUOgt
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About Mira Maestrecampo
Mira - with a long surname - is a girl who dreams of becoming a news anchor someday, in God's perfect time. She loves to read books and eat different kinds of cheesy or saucy food. A coffee addict and a dog lover, she loves long hugs, hot coffee on an afternoon break with friends, or simply sleeping all day with her stuffed unicorns.
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information presented in our articles. Our content is not intended
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