MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The entire first district of the city of Manila will be placed under a 48-hour "hard lockdown" from 5 am on Sunday, May 3, until 5 am on Tuesday, May 5, in an attempt to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso signed Executive Order No. 22 on Thursday, April 30, to shut down the entire Tondo 1 for "disease surveillance, verification, or testingand and rapid risk assessment."
Covering over 400,000 residents, this is the second area to be placed by the city government under a 48-hour hard lockdown. Earlier, Sampaloc district was placed under hard lockdown due to rising number of COVID-19 cases. The city also earlier imposed a 24-hour lockdown on Barangay 20 in Tondo.
The rules: All residents of Tondo 1 will be confined to their homes during the lockdown period, except for the following:
- Health workers
- Law enforcers
- Personnel of pharmacies, drug stores, and funeral homes
- Personnel of public utility companies
- Barangay officials
- Journalists
- Divisoria merchants within the vicinity of barangays 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7
Non-residents can pass through the area and perform "essential services," like food delivery, electric maintenance and repair, telecommunications maintenance, water and sanitation works, and transport of facilities. (READ: Luzon lockdown: What are the do's and don'ts?)
Why the lockdown? There are a lot of COVID-19 cases in the district.
As of Wednesday, April 29, Tondo 1 has 83 confirmed cases, and 231 suspected cases of COVID-19 infection. Seven residents have recovered while 12 have died.
The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the Philippines breached the 8,000 mark. As of Thursday, the Philippines has confirmed 8,488 COVID-19 cases, including 568 deaths and 1,043 recoveries. Metro Manila continues to be the epicenter of the contagion. – Rappler.com
