(Photo from Manila PIO)
The Sampaloc area of Manila has been placed under ‘hard lockdown’ by the city government from April 23 at 8:00pm, Thursday until April 25, Saturday due to the numerous cases of COVID-19 in the district.
Sampaloc has the highest cases of COVID-19 in the city, as reported by the Manila Health Department (MHD). On April 23, Sampaloc has 110 confirmed cases and 166 suspected cases, both figures accounting for 20% of more of the confirmed and suspected cases in whole city.
On April 21, Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has ordered a 48-hour ‘hard lockdown’ of the entire Sampaloc area for disease surveillance, rapid risk assessment and testing operations amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in the area.
COVID-19 cases in the Sampaloc area and in the whole city of Manila
Data reported by the MHD
But following Sampaloc closely were the districts of Tondo 1 and Tondo 2 districts, which has 75 and 55 confirmed cases respectively. The most new confirmed cases of the 28 reported in the city on April 23 came from Tondo 1 with 8, Tondo 2 with 5, Sta. Mesa with 5 and Sta. Cruz with 3. Sampaloc’s new confirmed cases on April was 2.
During the ‘hard lockdown’, localized targeted mass testing in the district will be held at the Gen. Licerio Geronimo Elementary School. The school was chosen due to its proximity to Ospital ng Sampaloc, the public hospital in the district. Around 1,000 rapid test kits will be used ‘to identify positive cases of the disease and prevent its spread.’
During the hard lockdown, the Manila Public Information Office advised that “residents shall be strictly confined to their residences and are prohibited from going out of their homes.”
Exempted from the ’hard lockdown’ in Sampaloc area includes healthcare workers, police and military personnel, government employees, service workers (pharmacies, drug stores and death care service establishments), barangay officials and media practitioners accredited by the Presidential Communications Operations Office and the Inter-Agency Task Force.
“All other commercial, industrial, retail, institutional and other activities not mentioned in above exemptions in the said district shall be suspended within the specified period of the shutdown,” stated the executive order on the hard lockdown in Sampaloc that Domagoso signed on April 21.
Police officers will be deployed around the Sampaloc area to ensure that no one shall go in and out of the district in the 48-hour period.
According to the Manila Police District, those who insisted to leave the Sampaloc area during the hard lockdown window can possibly be charged with “disobedience to a person in authority.” Those who attempt to attack policemen in the checkpoints may face a charge of ‘direct assault.’
Domagoso confirmed the plans to place the district under ‘hard lockdown’ on April 19, about a day after talks about it started. The Manila Public Information Office said on that day that ‘authorities are still “planning it carefully”’ and the schedule was not announced yet that day. The number of confirmed cases in Sampaloc increased by 23 since talks of the ‘hard lockdown’ was spread.
Sampaloc is the second area in Manila placed under strict lockdown, after Barangay 20 on April 14. The 24-hour lockdown was ordered by Domagoso after the city government found out that residents in the village gathered for an amateur boxing match held along the street.
