THE municipal government of Malay, Aklan implemented a “surgical lockdown” in two areas in Boracay Island on Sunday, as cases of Covid-19 rose after a recent party.
In a Tourist Advisory on its Facebook page, LGU Malay said, “Zones 5 and 6 of Brgy. Balabag [are] placed under Surgical Lockdown for 14 days, from March 28 until April 10, 2021.” The affected hotels and resorts are mostly in Station 2 around the D’Mall area and going toward Bulabog Beach. They include: Red Coconut Beach Hotel, Levantin, Banana Bay, Fat Jimmy’s, Feliz Hotel, The Tides, and 25 Mabuhay accommodations which include the popular Bamboo Hotel, Hey Jude Resort Hotel, Lanterna, Nirvana Resort, Niu Ohana, Isla Gecko, Hennan Park.
So far, BusinessMirror sources said, tourists are not among the recorded cases but “locals and workers.” According to Malay councilor Nenette Aguirre Graf, the cases were isolated among “those who attended the party at Valhalla, Everich Hotel, and Ocean Club last March 20. They were DJs. And they were already brought out of the island last night (March 27) and today (March 28),” to quarantine facilities in Kalibo.
According to the Malay Inter-Agency Task Force, as of March 27, there were 12 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 80. Of the total cases, seven are new active cases, bringing the total of active cases to 24. There are three new recovered cases, which raises the total to 55, and only one death so far.
In a Viber message, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat told the BusinessMirror, “We are currently investigating the source of the increased Covid cases on Boracay. But we commend the Malay LGU for acting quickly to enforce a surgical lockdown in the affected areas.”
She added, “We will be discussing with the mayor further steps with regard to protecting tourists in the affected area and the entire island.”
Addressing tourists affected by the surgical lockdown, the Malay LGU said they are “encouraged to observe limited movement until provided with Quarantine Pass from the barangay.” Graf said tourists whose Holy Week break will be up at Easter Sunday “can leave anytime” even if they are in the lockdown area.
It also advised arriving tourists with bookings in establishments within the lockdown area to transfer to other DOT-accredited hotels and resorts outside the said area. “Tourists must present their QR codes and negative RT-PCR [test] result to establishments or whenever needed.”
The Civil Aeronautics Board, in an advisory on March 21, prohibited carriers from transporting leisure travelers to and from the NCR-plus lockdown areas. It issued a show-cause order the next day to three major carriers, however, after finding out they still flew passengers to Boracay on the first day of the lockdown. (See, “CAB orders carriers to explain flights to Boracay despite leisure travel ban,” in the BusinessMirror, March 23, 2021.)
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