The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has proposed uniform curfew hours in Metro Manila amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
According to DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, it will be easier to enforce the curfew if only one curfew hour is observed in 16 cities and only one municipality in the region.
“Wala tayong isang uniform schedule ng tinatawag na curfew hours, kaya tayo nanawagan sa Metro Manila mayors na sana po ay maging uniform ang curfew, number one, para mapigilan ang paglobo ng kaso,” said Malaya.
The DILG recommends making the curfew from 10 pm to 5 am.
Currently, other areas in Metro Manila enforce curfews starting at 10 pm, while some at 12 midnight, according to the agency. It ends at 3 or 4, or 5 in the morning, depending on the locality.
Based on data from the Department of Health, studied by the ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team, for 6 consecutive days, more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded throughout Metro Manila.
In Las Piñas, the city health office is concerned about the nearly doubling of the number of new cases per day this week compared to last month.
According to Dr. Julie Gonzales of the Las Piñas City Health office, some of those who test positive for the disease live with families in the same home.
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DILG recommends uniform curfew for Metro Manila
The city has already conducted a lockdown on some households affected by COVID-19.
The local government is also studying closures in some communities to prevent the spread of the disease.
In Muntinlupa, a checkpoint will be re-established between each barangay to detect unauthorized exits.
Localized community quarantine also continues in their barangays in Pasay.
If last week 85 barangays were under localized quarantine, now it is only 60.
The OCTA Research Group believes that the increase in COVID-19 cases has accelerated due to the United Kingdom and South African variants of the virus being discovered in the country.
According to Guido David, it is possible that there will be 5,000 to 6,000 COVID-19 cases per day before the end of March.