Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso assured residents that no area in the country’s heart will be placed under a hard lockdown “anytime soon.”
The announcement came after rumors of another hard lockdown being implemented spread following the city government’s distribution of a P1,000-cash aid to thousands of families.
“Just to clear things up, wala pong mangyayaring lockdown (there will be no lockdown),” Domagoso said in his city address May 21, Thursday night.
Totoo pong may 33 cases tayo ngayon, pero ayan po ay sabog-sabog, nakakalat. So, wala pong concentration ng COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) in an area (It is true that we have 33 additional cases today, but those are scattered in the city. So, there is no concentration of COVID-19 in an area),” he said.
Earlier, the Manila mayor ordered that Sampaloc district and the first district in Tondo be placed under 48-hour hard lockdowns after data showed that the two areas had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippine capital.
Domagoso pointed that members of the Manila Health Department, other health experts, and officials of the city government conduct studies and plans before implementing hard lockdowns.
He also said that residents who will be affected are informed beforehand to give them time to prepare, and are provided with food relief packs and assistance from the city government.