Street lockdown only for COVID-19 case cluster — DILG spox

NO ENTRY, NO EXIT Granular lockdowns will be pilot tested in Metro Manila to stop the spread of the more contagious Delta variant. —NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — A granular lockdown of an alley or a street would only happen if there will be a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the said areas.

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya clarified this on Friday, the second day of the general community quarantine or GCQ Alert Level 4 in Metro Manila, where granular lockdowns are being pilot tested. The pilot testing of the new quarantine system will continue until September 30.

“If it’s possible that we close down a house or lockdown a house, that should be the approach,” Malaya said in an ANC interview.

“If that is the approach, it will only affect a limited number of people, unless there has been a clustering in two or three houses in the same street, that will then require the closure of the entire alley or street,” he added.

A cluster of infections occurs when there is a concentration of infections in a certain location at the same time.

Meanwhile, those who are not residing on the street where there the houses or houses under lockdown are located will be allowed to continue with their daily activities, Malaya said.

“The rest will continue to do what they need to do. So long it is allowed in the alert system prevailing in the area,” Malaya said.

“When we discussed this to the mayors, many of them were saying, it’s better to limit it in one or two houses rather than close down the entire street,” he said.

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