Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 30) – The entire first district of Manila, known as Tondo 1, will be placed on a 48-hour total lockdown starting on Sunday morning to tame the spread of COVID-19 in the city.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso signed Executive Order No. 22 on Thursday ordering the shutdown of Tondo 1 district from 5 a.m. on May 3 up to 5 a.m. on May 5.
Included in the two-day hard lockdown are Tondo 1’s Barangays 1 to 146.
“The shutdown aims to contain the spread and mitigate any adverse effects of COVID-19 in the district,” said Domagoso.
As of Wednesday, Tondo 1 had 83 active COVID-19 cases and 231 people suspected of having the virus. So far, seven residents have recovered from the disease while 12 have died.
Disease surveillance, verification or testing, and rapid risk assessment activities will be carried out in Tondo as response measures to the imminent danger posed by the disease.
The executive order requires District 1 residents to stay at home and only essential workers, such as health workers, military officers, pharmacy workers, and utility services workers are allowed to go outside their houses.
Non-residents of Tondo 1 are allowed to pass the area, provided they are in the list of the Authorized Persons Outside Residence identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases.
Other commercial, industrial, retail, and institutional activities are also prohibited during the 48-hour total lockdown.
Domagoso added the early announcement of the lockdown was made in order for the Manila local government unit to complete its distribution of food packs for Tondo 1 residents. There are about 140,166 families in Tondo 1 area who will receive food packs today and tomorrow.
This is the second 48-hour hard lockdown imposed by the Manila city government, after the Sampaloc district was placed under hard lockdown last April 23-25.
Based from the tally made by the Manila Health Department yesterday, there are 669 confimred COVID-19 cases in the nation’s capital. Some 518 are classified as active cases and 975 are suspected patients of the disease.
The city health department also reported 61 deaths and 90 recoveries from the virus.
