Churches in Novaliches, Cubao dioceses to be under 2-week lockdown starting March 22

The parish churches belonging to the Dioceses of Novaliches and Cubao in Quezon City will be under lockdown for two weeks, March 22 to April 3, amid the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila.

This was announced by Bishop Roberto Gaa of the Diocese of Novaliches and Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of the Diocese of Cubao on Sunday.

The churches will instead open on Easter Sunday, April 4, observing strict health protocols, they said.

"Voluntarily closing our places of worship at the highest point of our liturgical year is heartbreaking. But we also open our eyes to a situation that puts many of our faithful at risk. Numbers are surging and scientific data show that unless drastic interventions are done, these numbers will not decline anytime soon," Ongtioco said in a message posted on the diocese's website.

The lockdown will be imposed "to encourage the faithful to stay home and keep them safe," he said.

Gaa meanwhile said the lockdown is the only way to restrict the movement of people.

"I believe that if nothing drastic is done and things are left as they are now, the worsening situation could spill further onto other places both within and beyond our Diocese. As you may know, almost half of new cases daily come from households and workplaces," Gaa said in a message posted on Facebook.

"Given this fact, it would appear that the only way for us to control the further upsurge of Covid cases is to restrict the movements of people, including those movements by the same people from their work places and their homes into and out of our churches," he added.

Gaa encouraged parish churches to livestream their Masses and other religious and spiritual activities.

He also urged parish offices to cut to half the workforce reporting to work and restrict movement of personnel to church building and grounds only.

On Saturday, the Department of Health reported 7,999 new COVID-19 infections in the country, bringing the total to 656,056.

Hospitals in the National Capital Region will reach full capacity in the first week of April as the country’s COVID-19 reproduction number neared two amid surging cases, the OCTA Research group projected Saturday. —KG, GMA News