In the latest reports, the infected persons of the disease in Puerto princesa have been showing severe symptoms and a lesser number of asymptomatic persons. As of April 14, there are a total of now 33 confirmed active COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths within the city. There are 56 swab samples that were tested by the RT PCR laboratory at the Ospital ng Palawan (ONP) including the three females from Barangay San and Jose Brgy. San Pedro. As a result of the increasing number of patients, the healthcare facilities in Puerto Princesa have reached to their capacity.

Doctor Eunice Ponce de Leon-Herrera, City Incident Management Team (IMT) director for quarantine facilities sadly shared this in his interview with palawan-news. According to him “Puno na kami, as in nasa 300 plus ang pasyente namin. Wala nang mga rooms ang mga quarantine [facilities] na hinahawakan namin. Even ‘yong mga staff ko na nurses, close contact na din sila ng mga family nila sa labas that’s why nakaka-sad,”.

He also said that the isolation wards in the hospitals in Puerto Princesa are already close to its maximum. The patients require health care and because of this, nurses are isolated for 14 days before going back to their families but some turned out to be positive. This resulted in a reduced number of hospital staff.

“Alarming in the sense na halos puno na ang isolation ng Ospital Ng Palawan. Ang Adventist Hospital may role naman pero konti ang staff nila hindi sila makapag-admit ng marami kasi naka-quarantine din ang nurses na iba dahil affected na din close contact din sila noong mga sunod-sunod na mga dead-on-arrival (DOA) natin. Si Coop Hospital may isolation, wala din magrun kasi wala ring nurses, ang mga nurses naka-quarantine din dahil doon sa sunod-sunod na hinawakan na DOA na ilang mga pasyente,” Herrera added.

A resolution from the board member Maria Angela Sabando from the The Palawan Provincial Board proposed that the beaches or farm resorts have to volunteer their places to be a possible isolation and quarantine facilities for persons that will be identified as asymptomatic or have mild COVID19 in their respective areas. It has been approved on Tuesday, April 13.

Most municipalities in Palawan have beachfront and farm resorts which occupy big parcels of land and are naturally conducive to isolation of guests, giving them much-needed rest and recreation while enjoying privacy,” Sabando said.

“All arrangements on the LGU-MTC partnership on the matter including payments, staffing and sanitation protocols may be dealt with by the office of the municipal mayors, IATF s and Incident Management Teams,” Sabando added.

The curfew has been moved from 8pm until 4am, more earlier than the previous time. The new curfew time was implemented on April 14 with the help of the City Inter-Agency Task Force.

Aside from the strict curfew hours, the City IATF will also release new protocols to decrease local transmissions in Puerto Princesa.