Palace: LGUs must order granular lockdown in areas with COVID-19 surge

Malacañang said Wednesday that local government units should impose a granular or small-scale lockdown in the event that there is surge in COVID-19 cases in their area.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Alexei Nograles made the statement in response to the OCTA Research Group report that the COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila has increased to over 5% as of Monday, December 27, and that the more transmissible Omicron variant could be causing it rather than the increased mobility due to Christmas season. 

"Of course, we are getting concerned, we are getting worried, and so we call on Local Government Units (LGUs) to impose granular lockdown if there is surge in cases," Nograles said.

"Granular lockdown has never been out of the equation. The LGUs can impose granular lockdown if they see clustering of COVID-19 cases," Nograles added.

The Philippines has recorded at least four cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus so far.

But, Nograles said that the weight of preventing COVID-19 transmission is not only on the government.

"Let us not let the number of COVID-19 cases increase. Prevention is a shared responsibility," Nograles pointed out.

"Why is it going up? Dahil nakakalimutan itong iwas (Because people are forgetting about social distancing). Do not go to crowded places. There should be self-policing," Nograles added.

There are at least 47.8 million who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.

This number, however, is still short of the target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos against COVID-19 by yearend. —LBG, GMA News