The island of Sulu in the Philippines has announced that it will temporarily be on lockdown for two weeks, starting from January 4 to 17, after a new coronavirus strain was detected in Malaysia.
“This is for securing our shores from the reported COVID-19 strain in Sabah, Malaysia considering we are so near,” said Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan in an interview with ANC news channel on Thursday.
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As of posting time, Sulu has only two known active cases of COVID-19 out of 242 that has been recorded since the start of the pandemic. Of this number, 12 have died while the rest have already recovered from the virus.
Officials from Malaysia earlier announced and confirmed the presence of the new coronavirus strain in the country, but has yet to confirm if it matches the strain from the United Kingdom.
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Sulu has already requested more helicopters and vessels to help their government monitor their sea borders, as per reports from Reuters.
