Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte ordered the stricter implementation of security protocols in hotels used as quarantine facilities for returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Belmonte issued the order due to the rising number of the B.1.1.7 or the new United Kingdom-variant of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) were reported in the country.

To ensure that each person staying in hotels will complete the 14-day quarantine, police must be deployed outside the concerned hotels, Belmonte suggested.

“Now that the DOH confirmed the presence of the new strain in several places of the country, the more we need to double our efforts in preventing the spread of the virus,” Belmonte said in a statement per a report by Manila Bulletin.

Tetta Tirona, action officer of the Quezon City Tourism Department, said inspection of hotels and other establishments will be intensified to ensure that they are compliant with minimum health standards.

“We are leaving no stone unturned to guarantee that every hotel operating in the city is implementing the health and safety guidelines to the letter,” she said.

The Quezon City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU) also required the hotels converted into quarantine facilities to submit a list of returning OFWs staying with them for daily monitoring.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), the country has 17 patients with the UK-variant of COVID-19 as of January 23.

The first case that was reported was a male Quezon City resident who had a travel history from Dubai. His mother and fiancé also contracted the new variant of the disease.

All three have since tested negative for COVID-19, the report said. (CC)