THIRTY one barangays in Manila will be placed under a 48-hour lockdown this weekend after local health officials recorded at least three COVID-19 cases in the areas from June 15 to 29.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said the decision was reached upon the recommendation of the local health department.
The lockdown will start from 12 a.m. of July 4 until 11:59 p.m. of July 5.
“On June 29, the Manila Health Department issued a certification verifying that there are 147 COVID-19 positive cases in the said 31 barangays,” Moreno said in Executive Order 31.
During the lockdown, health authorities will conduct “disease surveillance, rapid risk assessment and testing measures” as part of Manila’s overall effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The areas to be placed under lockdown are barangays 20, 41, 51, 66, 96, 97, 101, 106, 116, 118, 120, 128 and 129 in District 1; barangays 163, 173, 180, 185 and 215 in District II; barangays 275, 310, 343 and 380 in District III; barangays 649, 724, 766, 775 and 811 in District V; and barangays 836, 846 and 847 in District VI.
Moreno said residents of the said barangays shall be strictly confined to their homes during the lockdown.
Exempted from the lockdown are military and police personnel, health workers, service workers (pharmacies, drugstores and funeral homes), utility workers, essential workers (food delivery, goods delivery and banking and money services), barangay officials and media workers accredited by the Presidential Communications Operation Office and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Moreno also directed the Manila police under Brig. General Rolando Miranda to deploy personnel in the said barangays to enforce the lockdown.
As of June 30, the city health department has recorded 2, 309 COVID cases in Manila with 128 deaths and 845 recoveries.
Meanwhile, a public market in Antipolo city will be placed under a 14- day lockdown after PCR testing results showed that 18 of its vendors and tenants have contracted the disease.
Mayor Andrea Ynares said that she has order the temporary closure of my Antipolo new public market located at Sumulong highway in barangay Dela Paz.
Ynares said 15 of them are residents of the city while the other three live in nearby towns in Rizal province. They were brought to quarantine facilities and will undergo medical assistance.
The 18 positives were among the 800 tenants and vendors that were subjected to swab testing on June 25.
The lockdown will be implemented starting today, July 2. — With Christian Oineza