Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Wednesday rejected the proposal to concentrate the lockdown on areas with the highest number of positive COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
Año warned that some residents, who are not essential workers, may still travel to other provinces and infect other people.
“Hindi pwede kasi ang problema kasi yung mga tao nag-mo-move. Hindi mo alam kapag may nakalusot na isa,” Año told radio station dzBB when asked if the government can impose the lockdown on areas with high cases of coronavirus disease.
(You can’t do that because the problem is some people would still move. Some might go to other places.)
Based on the Department of Health’s (DOH) COVID-19 tracker, areas in Metro Manila had the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease.
So far, Quezon City, the largest city in the National Capital Region, has the highest number of cases with 331, followed by Manila with 146 positive cases of COVID-19.
The DILG official also reiterated to residents and stranded workers that walking to their provinces is prohibited, urging them to stay in their respective areas for the duration of the enhanced community quarantine.
“Sinabi na natin na huwag na kayo umalis, hindi kayo magugutom. Tapusin natin ang lockdown. Ang problema naglakad sila e kaya pinagbawal na natin yung naglalakad tumatawid ng boundary,” he said.
(We already told them not to leave their areas. You will not go hungry. Let us finish this lockdown. But the problem is they are walking to other areas and we already banned them from crossing the boundary.)
“Unfair sa ibang probinsya may darating dun na taga-Maynila. Unfair ‘yun kung ikaw ang carrier.” he added.
(That is unfair for other provinces if a Manila resident will go there. Unfair if that resident is a carrier of the coronavirus disease.)
It can be recalled that the government imposed Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine starting March 17, until April 13, to stop the further spread of COVID-19.
To date, the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is now 2,084. Of the 2,084 cases, 88 have died while 49 recovered from the ailment.