Some 10,000 people accosted daily in Metro Manila under COVID-19 Alert Level 4

Video courtesy of PTV 

Some 10,000 people are accosted daily in Metro Manila in the pilot run of the new COVID-19 alert level system that relaxed some quarantine restrictions in a bid to spur business activity, the Philippine National Police said on Wednesday. 

The capital region's 13 million people were placed under Alert Level 4 in the 5-tier system from Sept. 16 to Oct 15. Around 10,475 people were nabbed daily in the past 27 days, said PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar.
 
Authorities accosted about 10,000 people daily when Metro Manila was under a 2-week lockdown in August, and about 12,600 people when it shifted to a modified enhanced community quarantine before the alert system was implemented, Eleazar said. 

"Hindi nagkakalayo itong violators na naa-accost natin," he said in a televised public briefing. 

(The figures for violators we accost under different quarantine levels are not far apart.)

"Ito ngayon ‘yong naaaktuhan natin, base na rin doon sa areas na napupuntahan ng ating mga pulis. Pero maraming areas na hindi naman natin napupuntahan kaya’t nakikita natin na maraming nagba-violate dito po ating mga protocol," added the official. 

(These are people we caught in the act, in areas that our policemen reach. But there are many areas that we have not reached, so we can see many are still violating our protocols.)

Common violations include improper use of anti-virus masks and failure to observe curfew hours, he said. 

The inter-agency task force on COVID-19 on Thursday will discuss Metro Manila's alert level from Oct. 16. There is a "high chance" that the region will shift to Alert 3, Malacañang earlier said. 

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