(Eagle News) – Following the lockdown of Sampaloc district, the Manila city government has announced that the entire Tondo 1 district will be placed under hard lockdown this weekend due to rising COVID-19 cases.
In a statement, Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said that mass testing operations will be conducted during the lockdown for Tondo 1 residents.
“We will try again 48 hours. I think that is good enough to do massive testing,” Domagoso said in the statement.
Four schools are being targeted as mass testing sites – the Rosario Almario Elementary School, T. Paez High School, Tondo High School, and Isabelo Delos Reyes Elementary School.
Under the lockdown, all wet and dry markets as well as grocery stores will be closed.
As of Tuesday, April 28, the Manila Health Department reported 659 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city, 81 of which were recorded in the Tondo 1 area.
– ER of Manila hospital closed after staffers test positive for coronavirus –
Meanwhile, the city government has also ordered the temporary closure of the emergency room of the at Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC) from April 28 to May 5.
In a separate statement, Domagoso said that the closure will give way to general cleaning and disinfection operations, after eight hospital staff tested positive for the coronavirus.
Those infected included 4 doctors, 1 radiology technologist, one medical technologist, and two nurses.
While the hospital will not be admitting new patients during the closure, its dialysis center will remain operational and existing patients will continue to receive care, GABMMC Director Dr. Ted Martin said in the statement.
Eagle News Service
