Residents of Brgy. 7, Caloocan City have to strictly stay in their houses after the area was placed under granular lockdown until Sept. 11 for having 26 active cases with more than 100 close contacts.
Brgy. 7 is among the areas placed under granular lockdown before Metro Manila shifts to general community quarantine (GCQ) on Sept. 8 to pilot test localized lockdowns.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said 51 barangays in the National Capital Region (NCR) are currently implementing granular lockdowns before its modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) expires on Sept. 7.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Benhur Abalos said NCR mayors have agreed and prepared for the adjustment of the new quarantine response.
Abalos said granular lockdowns “will give more flexibility” as the lockdowns’ focus will only be given to a particular area with reported case increase.
The approach also aims to help sectors and businesses greatly affected by the previous ECQ and MECQ through the reopening of more sectors under “3Cs” or close contact, crowded areas, and closed areas.
These include personal care service providers such as spa, salon, gyms, churches, dine-in restaurants, among others.
The government is expected to issue updated guidelines on localized lockdown before Wednesday.
The lockdowns will have different levels to be identified by the Department of Health (DOH) based on COVID-19 attack rate, growth rate, and hospital capacity.
The alert levels will be used to identify the allowed capacity of establishments under the 3Cs. Level 4 will be the strictest phase.
The DOH is hoping that granular lockdowns will work in balancing health and economy, saying that active case finding will be more possible through house-to-house search, intensive contact tracing, testing, and immediate isolation. – Report from Patrick de Jesus/AG-rir
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