CORTES, Bohol, April 3 (PIA) -- To prevent the unnecessary gathering of people following the suspension of community masses and religious gatherings, the local government in Bohol ordered the regulation of operating hours of business establishments in the duration of the imposed community quarantine against the threat of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) here.

Through amended Executive Order No. 18, Gov. Arthur Yap emphasized the need to order the closure or certain business establishments and regulate the operation of some to significantly decrease the risk of local transmission of the virus.

SPARSELY DISTANCED. Consumers in the public market in Cortes town space themselves following social distancing measures. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol/Photo by Cecilio Tolor Jr.)

The Executive Order, which was an order imposing an intensified community quarantine and calibrated lockdown within Bohol pursuant to Executive Order No. 8, is now a simplified version that took out the terms that has sparked near panic especially when it came out in time with the false reports of a positive case in Bohol.

The latest among the executive orders laying out the local government's initiatives to reduce the spread of COVID-19 orders businesses and commercial establishments closed and to remain so until the community quarantine in Bohol is lifted.

However, the lockdown order for business establishments excludes about 20 other establishments that offer goods and services necessary to make communities survive.

The closure order exempts public markets as long as they operate between 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., vendors and consumers wear face masks, local government units and private operators impose a one-entry, one-exit policy during operation hours, and stalls within the facility that are selling non-essential goods and commodities and dry goods except textiles to be used for face masks.

Also open for operation during the quarantine are slaughterhouses, supermarkets, groceries and convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, medical facilities, diagnostic centers and laboratories, drugstores and pharmacies, water refiling stations, banks and financial institutions including pawnshops, money transfer services, lending agencies, payment and remittance centers.

For basic utilities, companies providing services such as power, energy, water and telecommunications, gasoline stations and those selling liquefied petroleum gas should remain open.

Boholanos are now barred from gathering for wakes with public viewing.

While funeral parlors remain open, wakes are purely for family and should last not more than two days.

Restaurants, fast food chains, bakeries, and food establishments remain open but only for take-out services or deliveries.

For continued stream of relevant information, the EO also allows media establishments to continue with their mandate.

Also exempted in the closure are cargo handling companies, shipping services, agricultural supplies stores for farming and fishing and other related supplies, food manufacturing and food processing plants, including facilities that produce rice grains, flour, wheat, meat, fish and related products.

Among those allowed to remain open are hardware and construction supplies, construction firms and works, quarry operations, textile industry especially those primarily involved in the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing, laundry shops, motor and automotive vehicle repair shops and motor and vehicle supply parts stores, and the business process industry.

While the said establishments are open, their operations are restricted only until 7:00 p.m. except hospitals, clinics, medical facilities diagnostic centers and laboratories, drugstores and pharmacies, public utilities, media establishments, cargo shipping and services and business process outsourcing.

The EO also mandates them to reduce personnel, strictly observe social distancing measures, abide by the Department of Trade and Industry memoranda on anti-hoarding and anti-panic buying, and follow the Department of Health guidelines on hygiene, distancing, environmental and food safety measures.

Although the transport sector is not among the closed services, the operators are enjoined to strictly implement the Department of Transportation capacity directives in this time of medical emergency.

Drivers of public conveyances are prescribed to wear face masks at all times.

On this, the governor, through the Executive Order, discourages residents and dwellers to go outside their homes and residences except for important and urgent concerns. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)