Five areas at Barangay BF Homes in Parañaque City have been placed under a three-day “calibrated” lockdown due to a spike in the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
In a public advisory on Wednesday night, Mayor Edwin Olivarez ordered the lockdown in Purok 1 and 2 of Clinicville; J. Marquez Compound; Apple, Chico, Dalandan and Calamansi Streets of Sampaloc Site 2; Purok 3 and 3A, Aratiles 1 and 2 of Masville and Target Range 1.
Virus hot spot
The five areas are residential compounds near the enclaves of the BF Homes subdivision. Barangay BF Homes currently has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the city at 56. So far, it has posted 134 confirmed cases, 9 deaths and 69 recoveries.
The lockdown that began at 6 a.m. Thursday would end on July 5 with the government using the three days to conduct mass testing.
Olivarez said only frontliners were allowed to go out of the affected areas, although households would receive food packs and other basic essentials.
As of July 1, Parañaque City had 1,120 confirmed cases, with 58 deaths and 760 recoveries.
On June 26, Barangay BF Homes recorded 14 new active cases—the biggest single-day increase of infections, according to Dr. Darius Sebastian, chief of the city’s epidemiology and surveillance unit.
Disregarded protocols
“New coronavirus cases are going up every day in [Barangay] BF Homes. It started when residents disregarded health protocols when the national government placed the entire Metro Manila [under] general community quarantine,” Sebastian said.
The city government also previously placed some areas of San Dionisio and Baclaran—two other barangays that posted an increase in their COVID-19 cases—under a three-day lockdown.
San Dionisio, which has the highest confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city at 157, pulled down its active cases to 22 after the lockdown.