MAASIN CITY (PIA) -- Selling of alcoholic beverages before, during, and after the 21st Charter Day anniversary on August 10, and fiesta on August 15, in this city, is strictly prohibited, as well as having a drinking session in public, open areas.

The move is in line with existing health protocol on no mass gatherings, City Mayor Nacional Mercado pointed out, saying an Executive Order about this restriction will be released sooner.

“We will be having a supplemental Executive Order, the same way that we implemented it in our barangays when they celebrated their fiesta, or barangay anniversary,” Mayor Mercado said at the Kapihan sa PIA forum where he was the guest Wednesday.

In the fiesta month of May, barangay tanods and police officers, and even the Mayor himself, were very visible roving around the barangays having fiesta on that day, making sure no outside visitor enter a house.

The same strategy will be carried out in the two big celebrations this month, as it was assessed that restricting people’s movement somehow helped in curbing runaway surges, especially that this time the threat of the more contagious delta variant is upon us, the mayor explained.

“This is to further control spreading of the virus in our city,” he added.

Health experts have determined that a big crowd of people usually triggered what is called a spreader event, a condition where the virus can easily spread from one person to another.

Meanwhile, the mayor shared that the target population in the city to be vaccinated is 47,650 individuals out of a total population of about 93,000.

Of the target number, as of August 4 data before adding the newly vaccinated for the day, 8,261 were fully inoculated, representing 17.37% of the target, while those who got their first dose were 6,107, Mayor Mercado reported.  (LDL/MMP/PIA-8/Southern Leyte)