The Manila city government on Sunday said it will issue quarantine passes again to restrict movement of its constituents after the national government placed Metro Manila and nearby provinces under the strictest lockdown, an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), for one week.
“On Saturday, March 27, the Palace announced that the entire Metro Manila — including Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — will once again be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ),” said the city government in a Facebook post.
“This is part of the effort to address the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in NCR and some of its surrounding areas,” it said.
COVID-19 hotspots under the so-called NCR Plus area will be under ECQ from March 29 to April 4 to address the rising number of infections.
On Sunday, the Philippines logged 9,595 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total caseload to 712,442. Of the number, 118,122 are active cases; 581,161 recovered; and 13,159 died.
“In light of this, Manila Barangay Bureau (MBB) chief Romeo Bagay immediately sent a memo to all the barangay chairs so that they can make preparations as soon as possible,” the city government said.
“According to this memo, barangay chairs must issue quarantine passes to their constituents. One quarantine pass shall be issued per family,” it said.
The memo explains the holders of the quarantine passes can only go out during their designated schedules, determined based on the control numbers of the quarantine passes. The said schedules follow an “odd-even scheme” as detailed below:
– Those whose control numbers are odd numbers (1, 3, 7, 9, and so on) can go out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. as well as on Sunday from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.
– Those whose control numbers are even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on) can go out on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. as well as on Sunday from 12 noon to 6 p.m.