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| South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. (Photo from: PNA Gensan) |
[아시아뉴스통신=페이 기자] The provincial government of South Cotabato has scrapped a plan to close down its borders anew following the national government’s intervention over its stalled coronavirus disease (Covid-19) testing. South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said Wednesday they decided to forego with the border lockdown after getting additional allocation of test cartridges from the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 for its testing center in Koronadal City.
Tamayo said they expect the delivery of the test cartridges “within the day” as promised by NTF chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., in a brief meeting on Tuesday during the distribution of certificates of land ownership award to farmers in Arakan town, North Cotabato.
Before traveling to Arakan, Tamayo signed Executive Order (EO) No. 49 declaring another lockdown of the province’s borders in the wake of the suspension of Covid-19 testing at the local government’s partner private hospital Dr. Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center (DAPPMC). Tamayo said he initially decided to impose a border lockdown amid the rising suspected locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the province and the neighboring areas, as well as the lack of available test cartridges for the laboratory’s GeneXpert machine.
