By Kyle Castillo

PHOTO: DaBigC News

As the Philippines' economy drastically dropped, Malacañang announced on Monday that Metro Manila will undergo the implementation of 'granular lockdown' pilot-testing to restrain its increasing COVID-19 cases.

During the Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque stated that the government is coping with a new plan against the virus without interrupting business actions.

“It will be literally a complete lockdown kapag ikaw ay subject sa granular lockdown. At pati pagkain ay ibibigay na po ng gobyerno doon sa mga lugar na covered by granular lockdowns,” Roque explained. 

The new plan of imposing granular lockdowns will be a “complete lockdown” in small areas, and people will be forbidden to go out of their homes, hence the government will provide their basic needs.



“One innovation is kung ikaw ay APOR [authorized persons outside of residence], you can leave but you can no longer go back until matapos yung granular lockdown. Wala talagang labas masok. For APORs, you can leave once. Yan po yung naalala ko sa isang innovation,” he added.

Since Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is 'not working anymore, Spokesman Roque put his hopes for the new granular lockdown, hoping that this will address the huge spike in COVID-19 cases.

“Ngayon po, the truth of the matter is apparently, the ECQ as we practiced it may not be enough. So we’re trying to come up with a new strategy. Kaya nga po itong localized lockdown na ito, granular, is not the same granular lockdown that we knew,” he said.

Roque also ensured that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will release the full guidelines for the new type of lockdown this Monday or Tuesday.