No three-week hard lockdown – Palace

Imposing a three-week hard lockdown on COVID-19 hotspots is not doable because the government is preventing a rise not just in the number of infections but also the number of people who are hungry, Malacañang said yesterday.

- ALEXIS ROMERO

OCTA Research recommended a three-week lockdown in areas with a high number of COVID-19 cases as the rapid increase in infections threatened to overwhelm the country’s healthcare system. The Philippines posted a record-high 22,366 new infections last Monday, but officials claim the number is within the government’s projections.

“For now, that (three-week hard lockdown) is not doable. We do not want the number of hungry people to increase. We are aiming for total health. Reduce the number of cases and reduce the number of people who are hungry,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said at a press briefing.

He added that the government is continuously working to ensure there would be enough hospitals for severe and critical cases.