2 QC barangays on ʻextremeʼ quarantine over COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Two barangays in Quezon City with three confirmed cases each of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will be placed under “extreme enhanced community quarantine” starting at 6 a.m. today.

Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday identified the barangays as Tandang Sora and Kalusugan, which will be under the strict surveillance of authorities.

Barangay Kalusugan is where St. Luke’s Medical Center is located. Some of the 29 confirmed cases in the city are confined in the hospital.

Under the guidelines for community quarantine, Barangays Bagong Lipunan Crame and Matandang Balara were also supposed to be placed under extreme enhanced community quarantine.

Discharged, recoveredHowever, although Bagong Lipunan Crame recorded three confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the same household, one had already been discharged from the hospital. There were two recorded cases in Matandang Balara but one had died while the other recovered.

Under the extreme enhanced community quarantine, the houses with the six confirmed cases will be considered “hot zones,” said city disaster risk reduction management officer Mike Marasigan.

“Hot zones will be under strict monitoring and surveillance; movement in and out of the households will be restricted 24/7,” Marasigan added. “Checkpoints will be put up [on Thursday] by the Quezon City Police District.”

Food will be delivered to these households by the city government.

‘Warm zones’The city government will also be monitoring “warm zones,” or households within a 500-meter radius of a confirmed case’s residence.

Residents in warm zones will be allowed to go in and out of their households, but they have to go through checkpoints set up within the area.

Key hospitals in the city will also be placed under facility quarantine to control the exit and entry of people, Marasigan said.

Surveillance teams will be deployed to Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, East Avenue Medical Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center and St. Luke’s Medical Center.As of Wednesday, Belmonte said that there were 29 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city. Three have since recovered although there are 16 persons under investigation and 54 persons under monitoring,
Twenty-two of the city’s 142 barangays have at least one confirmed case.