
MANILA – Malacañang announced on Friday that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has “provisionally” approved guidelines for the pilot deployment of granular lockdowns in Metro Manila.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) policy modification would only implement either the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or the general community quarantine (GCQ) with four alert levels in Metro Manila, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who is also the IATF-EID spokesperson.
“Sang-ayon po dito sa policy shift na gagawin natin, dalawa na lang ang quarantine classifications. Ito po ang ECQ na ipapataw ng IATF o ‘di naman kaya ay GCQ (Based on the policy shift that we will carry out, there will only be two quarantine classifications. These are the ECQ that will be imposed by the IATF or the GCQ),” Roque said in a virtual presser.
He said there are four levels to the localized lockdown that would be pilot-tested in Metro Manila.
According to Roque, the IATF-EID is currently working out the intricacies of imposing alert level 4, the most stringent level.
All areas that will be placed under an alert level system, Roque said, should follow the guidelines set forth by the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, which are commensurate with their alert levels.
Unless otherwise specified, the classification of pilot areas and their alert levels will be done weekly, he noted.
“Lahat po ng areas ay magpapatupad po ng granular lockdowns, sang-ayon po sa guidelines ng NTF. Ang pagkakaiba po nito, itong lockdowns na ito ay mas strikto (All areas will implement granular lockdowns, based on the guidelines of the NTF. The difference is these lockdowns are stricter),” Roque said.
Only health and allied health professionals will be recognized as Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) with the implementation of stricter granular lockdowns, he added, emphasizing that government workers in places under localized lockdown will not be able to leave.
“Yun pong mga taong gobyerno ay hindi makakapagtrabaho kapag kayo po ay nasa ilalim ng localized lockdown. Hindi kayo pupuwedeng lumabas (Government workers will not be allowed to go out if their areas are under localized lockdown. They cannot go out),” Roque said.
Local government units and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would, however, provide help to families that may be impacted by the implementation of granular lockdowns, he said.
“Magbibigay na po ng ayuda ang lokal na pamahalaan at ang DSWD para po hindi na kinakailangang lumabas ng kahit na sino sa mga lugar na naka-granular lockdown (Local governments and the DSWD will give assistance so residents of areas under granular lockdown would no longer need to leave their homes),” he said.
Roque did not say when the pilot imposition for localized lockdowns would begin.
Metro Manila was originally placed under regular GCQ from September 8 to September 30 to allow the pilot implementation of granular lockdowns.
However, the IATF-EID has decided to keep Metro Manila under modified ECQ (MECQ) status until September 15, awaiting the issuance of final guidelines on localized lockdowns.