MANILA, Philippines — Manila’s Sampaloc district, which has the most number of coronavirus infections in the Philippine capital, will be placed under a 48-hour “hard lockdown” in a drastic bid to arrest the spread of the contagion.
Sampaloc will be shut down from 8 p.m. on April 23 to 8 p.m. of April 25 to conduct disease surveillance, testing and rapid risk assessment, Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno announced Tuesday.
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During the duration of the lockdown, all residents of the entire district shall be strictly confined to their homes and are prohibited from going out of their residences.
Only healthcare workers, police and military personnel, government employers, service workers, barangay officers and media practitioners accredited by the government are exempted from the order.
“All other commercial, industrial, retail, institutional and other activities not mentioned in above exemptions in the said district shall be suspended within the specified period of the shutdown,” the executive order read.
Of the 458 COVID-19 cases in Manila, 99 were detected in Sampaloc. The district also recorded the highest number of suspected cases in the city with 159.
In the Philippines, the virus has already affected 6,459 individuals, including 613 recoveries and 428 fatalities. — Gaea Katreena Cabico