Manila mayor orders 48-hour hard lockdown for Sampaloc district

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno ordered a 48-hour "hard lockdown" for the entire Sampaloc district, from Thursday, April 23, 8 p.m. to Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m., due to rising COVID-19 cases.

The lockdown aims to facilitate disease surveillance, verification or testing, and rapid risk assessment in the district, which now has 106 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest in the city.

A total of 150 soldiers will be deployed to assist the Manila Police District in implementing the hard lockdown.

During the lockdown, only essential workers such as health workers, law enforcers, service workers, government officials, and members of the media will be allowed to leave their homes.

All commercial, industrial, retail, institutional, and other non-exempted activities will be suspended.

Violators will be brought to sports complex holding facilities instead of jails or police stations to prevent further spread of the disease.