Five floors of a condominium in Muntinlupa City have been placed under hard lockdown, following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the building.
Extreme localized community quarantine (ELCQ) was imposed on Anala Tower within the Anuva Residences complex in Barangay Buli, Muntinlupa, beginning 6pm on August 31.
Mayor Jaime Fresnedi ordered the ELCQ classification to be imposed after the Muntinlupa City Health Office (CHO) noted that the COVID-19 cases in the building doubled in just two days. There are a total of eight cases in the COVID cluster, with a high attack rate of 167.01 per 100,000 population. One person is reported to have died among the confirmed cases in the building.
Anala Tower has a total of 479 residents, including those considered vulnerable or high-risk: 17 senior citizens, two persons with disability, a pregnant woman, and 11 children aged 5 years and below. This contributed to the decision to place part of the condo under ELCQ.
Under the hard lockdown, no one—including Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APOR)—from the affected areas of the condominium building will be allowed to go out, except for emergencies.
We may be seeing more of this kind of lockdowns, as government agencies today agreed to impose “granular lockdowns” instead of wider community quarantines. “There is consensus among the different government agencies na instead ng malawakang ECQ, ang gagamitin po natin ay granular lockdown na lamang,” said Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a televised briefing. The proposal is awaiting final approval, he added.
Department of Health Undersecretary (DOH) Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing last Saturday authorities observed that wider community lockdowns weren’t very effective in curbing the spread of the virus. “Kaya we would like to shift into these granular lockdowns where our local governments will be doing active case finding. Ito po ang nakikita natin that can stop transmission,” Vergeire said.
In Muntinlupa City, there are 11 other areas that were placed under ELCQ in August, some of which were limited to a barangay, compound, building, or street.
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