Locking down an entire condominium floor if one tenant tests positive for COVID-19 is one possible course of action for authorities under a new quarantine system that targets small areas instead of entire cities or regions, the interior department said Friday.
If it is found that the COVID case "went around the floor and talked to people", that entire level of the building could be locked down, said Interior Usec. Jonathan Malaya.
A floor-wide lockdown "is not automatic" with one COVID case found, Malaya said. "Once a positive case is found by the local goverment, immediately, as part of the standard operating procedures, contact tracing has to happen."
Earlier, Metro Manila Council chairman and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said that a single case can trigger a lockdown of the entire floor.
"So if it is determined that an individual , then that would require shutting down, or locking down the entire floor," Malaya said, clarifying Olivarez's statement.
If the COVID-positive resident did not interact with others in their floor, it will not require the shutting of an entire floor.
Contact tracing will determine if the granular lockdown should be narrowed or expanded to nearby areas.
Malaya reiterated that granular lockdowns would be be implemented without warning.
READ: Granular Lockdowns Strike ‘Without Warning’, APORs Move Outside Bubble
This is also why under the alert level systems, the local government, not the national government, will determine the scope of granular lockdowns, said Malaya.
Based on IATF guidelines, granular lockdowns will be declared on individual houses where one household member has been confirmed, residential buildings, streets blocks, puroks, subdivisions and villages or barangays for 14 days.
GUIDE: Who Can Go In, Out of Granular Lockdown Areas
Metro Manila, which is under pilot implementation of the new alert level systems, is under alert level 4 until Sept. 30. The rest of the country follows the community quarantine system.
YOUR GUIDE TO THE NEW ALERT LEVEL SYSTEM:
Metro Manila Under Alert Level 4: What Will Change?
What's Allowed Under Alert-Based, Granular Lockdowns
Who Can Go In, Out of Granular Lockdown Areas
Your Updated Quarantine Dictionary, Alert Levels Edition
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