Cops detain 65 ‘hard lockdown’ violators in Manila’s Sampaloc district

MANILA, Philippines — Police held 65 individuals for violating the “hard lockdown” being implemented in the city of Manila’s Sampaloc District as of Friday noon, the Manila Public Information Office said, citing data from the Manila Police District Station 4.

Sampaloc was placed under a 48-hour lockdown that started at 8 p.m. Thursday and will last until 8 p.m. Saturday, as COVID-19 cases in the area continued to swell.

The lockdown was imposed “for purposes of disease surveillance, verification or testing and rapid risk assessment in relation to COVID-19,” Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso earlier said.

The city government of Manila has designated four improvised detention centers for lockdown violators in Sampaloc. These are two covered courts at Barangays 424 and 420, and two other facilities at Barangays 463 and 581.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, Manila has a total of 547 residents positive for the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 that causes the deadly respiratory illness COVID-19. Of this number, 58 have resulted in deaths while 63 have managed to recover. Another 764 were considered COVID-19 “suspects.” There is currently no “probable” COVID-19 case in the nation’s capital city so far.

In Sampaloc alone, 110 have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 – the highest in all districts in Manila –while 166 more were tagged as COVID-19 “suspects.”

Meanwhile, swab samples were taken from a total of 66 persons for the PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) test as part of the city’s COVID-19 mass testing initiative, according to Manila City Health Officer Dr. Arnold Pangan. PCR-based test kits, which can yield more accurate results, take 24 to 72 hours to process.

On the other hand, a total of 236 individuals were subjected to rapid antibody tests, according to Ospital ng Sampaloc Director Aileen Lacsamana. Rapid test kits use blood samples and can produce results in minutes.

KGA