Gov’t to pilot granular lockdown
PRESIDENT Duterte has approved the downgrade of the quarantine in Metro Manila to general community quarantine (GCQ) from September 8 until 30 as government prepares to impose granular lockdowns to control the rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the region.
Metro Manila was under GCQ in March, before it was locked down from March 29 to April 14 due to a surge in cases. The quarantine classification was downgraded to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from April 15 untill May 14 before it was deescalated to GCQ with heightened restrictions.
The region was again placed under ECQ from August 6 to 20 due to the presence of the COVID-19 Delta variant, and downgraded to MECQ from August 21 until today.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President also approved the imposition of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) during the same period in the provinces of Apayao, Bataan, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Iloilo and in the cities of Lucena, Iloilo and Cagayan De Oro.
Duterte also placed the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Pangasinan, Quezon, Batangas, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga Del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Davao Del Norte, Davao De Oro, Davao Occidental and the cities of Naga, Bacolod, Lapu-Lapu, Davao and Butuan under GCQ with heightened restrictions.
Under the regular GCQ during the same period are the provinces of Kalinga, Abra, Benguet, Quirino, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Tarlac, Occidental Mindoro, Puerto Princesa, Aklan, Guimaras, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga Del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Davao Oriental, Davao Del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan Del Norte, Agusan Del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao Del Norte, Surigao Del Sur and Lanao Del Sur.
It is also imposed in the cities of Baguio, Dagupan, Santiago, Cebu, Mandaue, Zamboanga, Iligan, General Santos, and Cotabato City.
The rest of the country will be under the least strict modified GCQ.
Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba said the ECQ classification of Tuguegarao City has been extended for another seven days, or until September 12.
The city was initially placed under ECQ from August 12 to 21. The lockdown has been extended thrice – August 22 to 28, August 29 to 30, and August 31 to September 5.
Roque said the pilot implementation of the granular lockdown scheme in the National Capital Region (NCR) has been approved in principle. Implementing guidelines, however, are still being finalized.
Expected to be included in the guidelines is the observance of stricter protocols such as limiting the movement of people, including those of Authorized Persons Outside of Residences (APORs) during granular lockdowns.
Roque said APORs will be allowed to leave areas under granular lockdown, but will not be permitted to return while the restriction is still in effect.
“It will be literally a complete lockdown if you are subject to granular lockdown,” he said, adding that both the national and local governments units will provide food assistance to affected households.
Roque and National Task Force against COVID-19 spokesman Restituto Padilla Jr. said that with the localized lockdown, mobility restrictions can be limited to specific buildings, streets, and barangays instead of whole provinces, cities, municipalities or regions.
This, they said, would enable areas not under granular lockdown to open their economies.
Roque said the national government will monitor the effectivity of the granular lockdown system and later decide whether or not to implement it on a nationwide level.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos Jr. said the imposition of granular lockdowns in the NCR would have alert level status, similar to weather disturrbances, which would be determined by the Department of Health (DOH).
Abalos said that under “Alert level 1, everyone can go out and all establishments are open, while Alert level 4 is the opposite, all are closed and all are prohibited to go out.”
“Under Alert level 2, establishments are allowed to operate up to 50 percent of their capacity, while under Alert Level 3, only 30 percent,” Abalos also said.
The alert levels, he added, has three factors: the level of infection, hospital bed capacity, and the kind of COVID-19 variant prevalent in the affected area.
‘LOSING THE GAME’
The implementation of a granular lockdown system in the country may lead to the COVID-19 pandemic spiraling out of control and to the Philippines eventually “losing the game,” the independent OCTA Research said yesterday.
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said the group is concerned over thee national government’s plan to do away with community quarantine restrictions.
“When we look at history, we have a pandemic that is causing widespread transmission, we have not seen granular lockdown working in this scenario. Once cases spread all over, it will be difficult to contain using granular lockdowns,” David said in a virtual interview with reporters.
“We are concerned that we may lose the game if we lose effective control of the pandemic if cases begin to rise again,” he added.
David said imposing granular lockdowns would only control those belonging to areas placed under such restrictions, while leaving other areas free to move around.
He said such a scenario would be dangerous as undetected cases may result to faster transmission of the virus.
“If you have granular lockdown but don’t have testing of people that are mobile, it may not work. Sure you may contain the cases in barangays. But you have people moving around and possibly spreading the virus,” said David.
He said that such a scenario may result to their projections by the end of the month being higher. David has earlier said the country may see some 30,000 daily cases by the end of the month under the current trend.
“If we change the approach, like granular lockdown, and is not effective, then it’s possible that the trend may reverse and that numbers may increase again and may reach more than 30,000 cases per day,” warned David.
For its part, the Department of Health (DOH) said they proposed the shift to granular lockdown after seeing that cases are usually concentrated in certain areas only.
In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said it would be wrong to continue locking down whole regions, provinces, or cities when only few barangays are seeing large number of cases.
“We saw that, for example in a city, only a few barangays have cases but already comprise 80 percent of their cases. This prompted us to really push for the shift to granular lockdowns,” said Vergeire.
Under granular lockdown, she said that the authority to declare one lies with the community leaders or local governments.
“This will be granular with sector-specific restrictions only, and not the whole area,” she explained.
This way, the health official said, people from other parts of the area will be able to earn a living.
TRAVEL BAN
The President has also approved the recommendation of the IATF to lift the travel restrictions to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia on 10 countries efective yesterday.
But Roque said travelers from these countries are still required to comply with “the appropriate entry, testing and quarantine protocols, depending on the country’s approved ‘listing” to be allowed entry to the Philippines.
The travel restriction was first imposed to some countries in April to prevent the entry and spread of the Delta variant in the Philippines.
Roque said that while the travel restrictions are lifted in the 10 countries, a ban will be imposed on those that would fall under the “red” listing. He, however, failed to mention what these countries are.
He said inbound international travelers from areas under the Red list, regardless of their vaccination status, will not be allowed entry to the Philippines while Filipinos repatriated from these areas under a government-to-government arrangement and on Bayanihan flights will be allowed to enter the country subject to entry, testing and quarantine protocols.
He made the clarification following a statement of Vice President Leni Robredo that questioned the lifting of the travel restrictions amid the increasing Delta cases.
Roque said travelers that came from countries under the “yellow” classification must undergo a 10-day quarantine in a facility and four days home quarantine, while those that will come from countries under the “green” classification have to observe up to seven days of quarantine in a facility.
While they have opposing opinions on granular lockdowns, the DOH and OCTA both believe that existing border control measures are enough to offset the lifting of the travel restriction to 10 countries.
“We should not worry because we have safeguards. While there will be no restrictions, we have strict border control for all incoming travellers. There are no exemptions,” said Vergeire.
David agreed with the DOH but stressed that the strict border control must not remain as a written policy only.
“Generally, that would be sufficient if we have strict implementation of border control… We must have strict implementation of border control so that we won’t have variants coming in to the country,” said David.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III appealed to the government to reconsider its decision to lift the travel ban restrictions as he noted that COVID-19 infections in the country are still on the rise.
“(It) Should be reconsidered. What is the reason? Is there an agenda?” asked Sotto, who had earier asked the government to change its strategy in the fight against the pandemic now that the virus has mutated.
He said the government should not rely on vaccines alone.
“Vax vax vax! Ok, but what happens after 6 months? Ano, ulitan? Nabigla diskarte natin.
Change strategy naman por Dios y por Santo! (Vax, vax, vax? Ok, but what happens after six months? Shall we repeat [the same strategy] again? We did not see this coming. For God’s sake, you must change strategy),” Sotto said.
Sen. Nancy Binay said the decision to relax travel restrictions is “alarming and scary.
COVID cases is on the rise in the Philippines and yet it seems okay for the IATF to ease travel restrictions even if the government lacks safety nets and we are still a failure in our border control measures.”
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the timing to lift travel restrictions came at a time when the country’s hospitals are overwhelmed due to the high number of COVID cases.
POLICE, LABOR SUPPORT
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar has ordered Metro police chiefs to coordinate with local government units (LGUd) for the implementation of the granular lockdown strategy starting tomorrow.
Eleazar also said police chiefs will be re-aligning forces so they can focus on the implementation of the granular lockdown.
“On the instruction of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, I directed our police commanders in Metro Manila to coordinate with their respective local government units so its implementation will be orderly and avoid confusion,” said Eleazar.
Eleazar said granular lockdowns is not actually new to the PNP. Some LGUs have been implementing granular lockdowns of certain areas in the NCR, but they are less restrictive if compared to the new set up.
Eleazar said 51 areas in Metro Manila are currently under granular lockdown, of which 37 are in Quezon City.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has also expressed approval of the proposal to shift to granular lockdown. — With Noel Talacay, Gerard Naval, Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
