DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 Oct) – Fitness buffs will now have to make an appointment before going to fitness clubs and gyms.
This after Mayor Sara Duterte issued Executive Order 57 last October 26 regulating the mass gatherings and prohibiting non-essential travel within Davao City and for other purposes until December 31, 2020.
Section 10 also limits the number of persons allowed inside clubs and gyms to five per hour to prevent the transmission of the highly infectious disease, as the mayor confirmed that there have been COVID-19 patients whose exposure to the infection was traced to fitness clubs and gyms.
The mayor ordered gym-goers to not remove their facemasks even during workout sessions.
She said there is a need to regulate mass gatherings as these are potential super spreaders of the virus.
Duterte added that aerosol transmission can occur in specific settings, particularly indoor, crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces where the infected persons spend long periods of time with others.
“There is a need to limit the movement of the people in Davao City to accessing essential goods and services or for work or business—work also includes business—but only in keeping with the purpose of the community quarantine,” she said.
Section 17 also provides that all travel inside the city would only be for accessing goods and essential services—including anything related to the human need for food, hospital/health and wellness/medicine, money, work or shelter—for work in offices and industries, and daily maximum two-hour non-contact sports exercises.
It added that all leisure, entertainment and non-essential activities are absolutely prohibited.
It said events and activities for leisure, entertainment, sports, gaming and amusement will be prohibited.
Davao City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Mindanao, logged 3,290 out of the 4,863 confirmed total cases in Davao Region as of October 27, according to the Department of Health-Davao.
Of this total, 285 were reported in Davao de Oro, 527 in Davao del Norte, 336 in Davao del Sur, 97 in Davao Occidental, and 328 in Davao Oriental.
The region reported 1,067 total active cases, 3,619 recoveries, and 177 deaths. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
