People in the Philippines are back in lockdown, after doctors warned a surge in new coronavirus cases could push the healthcare system to collapse.
Stay-at-home orders are now in place the capital of the country and four surrounding provinces on the island of Luzon for two weeks.
Philippines only just emerged from one of the strictest lockdowns last month.
But hospitals have been struggling to cope with a five-fold rise in confirmed infections, now surging past 100,000.
The meaning of the lockdown is a return to stay-at-home orders except for going out to buy necessary things or exercising outdoors. Public transport has also been stopped and domestic flights are grounded, while restaurants are restricted to takeaways.
The new lockdown came after 80 medical associations on Saturday called on President Rodrigo Duterte to toughen restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Day before yesterday, the Philippines declared a record 5,032 new infections. In some areas hospitals are reported to have been forced to turn away soaring numbers of patients.
Doctors expect the reinstated lockdown will now give medical workers more time to deal with the spike in cases.
With only 24 hours notice of the shutdown, which took effect today, many people have found themselves stranded in Manila without any transport to go back to their hometowns.
“We’ve run out of money. We can’t leave the airport because we don’t have any relatives here,” Ruel Damaso, a 36-year-old construction worker, told AFP. He was trying to return to the southern city of Zamboanga.
In other parts of Manila people were seen stockpiling food the day before restrictions started as they prepared to stay indoors for a second time.
Prior to this, the shutdown from mid-March to May was one of the world’s longest stay-at-home orders.
There have been 2,104 deaths in the Philippines from Covid-19, as stated by a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
