Thousands throng to dolomite beach amid pandemic
Published on: Monday, October 25, 2021
By: ABS CBN News
.jpg "Thousands throng to dolomite beach amid pandemic")
MANILA BAY’S dolomite beach will be closed for at least an hour after some 4,000 visitors (pic) have already trooped to the area as of early Sunday, an official said.At least 25,000 people have visited Manila Bay dolomite beach in the first week it reopened following the capital region’s shift into Alert Level 3, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources earlier said.
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Authorities have extended up to 300 meters the area that is open to the public, according to Jacob Meimban Jr, deputy executive director of Manila Bay Coordinating Office. Manila Dolomite Beach ready to extend area, accept more visitors
Marshals reminding the public to observe physical distancing have been doubled, he said. The beach measures around 1.2 hectares or 12,000 meters, he added.
“I’ve directed the ground commander to temporarily stop entry of people. The entrance is in Pedro Gil. I’ve ordered him to ask people to go to Remedios instead,” he said.
“People can walk along the stretch of Remedios to Abad in the Baywalk Area...They can return in an hour to replace visitors that have just left the area.”
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Visitors cannot go inside in batches as this will cause long and congested queues outside, Meimban said.
“We’ve done that already, it only made congestion outside worse, which we think is more dangerous because it causes overcrowding,” he said.
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ABS-CBN’s Jekki Pascual, who is in the area, reported that visitors include children, and some promptly left when the rain poured around 8 a.m.
He also observed that some visitors spend some time inside, laying mats or blankets to sit or lie on, while some young people were seen playing volleyball.
Visitors are not asked if they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and their body temperatures are not checked, said Pascual.
Crowds usually come in at around 5 p.m. to watch the sunset and leave at 6 p.m., according to Meimban.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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