Video courtesy of PTV

Fewer areas in Metro Manila are under granular lockdown as COVID-19 cases go down, the interior department said on Monday.

Granular lockdowns were imposed in 139 areas as of Friday, down from 303 last Oct. 1, said Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya.

The areas currently under lockdown are home to 617 families, he said.

"Malaki po ang pagbaba. Consistent po ito sa mga datos natin sa case transmission and increase in vaccination dito sa National Capital Region," Malaya said in a televised public briefing.

(The tally has gone down by a lot. This is consistent with our data on case transmission and increase in vaccination here in the National Capital Region.)

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Granular lockdowns accompany the 5-step alert level system that government started testing out in Metro Manila in mid-September in a bid to better contain coronavirus infections and spur business activity.

The capital region, home to around 13.5 million people, on Oct. 16 shifted to Alert 3 from Alert 4, allowing more businesses to reopen.

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"Wala naman pong untoward incident. Pero… nagdagsaan po ang ating mga kababayan sa ilan sa mga public places natin," Malaya said of the eased alert level.

(There was no untoward incident But people flocked to some of our public places.)

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He reminded the public to observe health protocols and the capacity limit in establishments.

"Gamitin po natin ‘yong ating pagmamahal sa bansa, sana po umiral ang disiplina," said the official.

(Let us use our love for the country, and we hope that discipline will prevail.)

The Philippines has recorded a total of 2,720,368 confirmed COVID-19 cases, as of Sunday, of which 81,641 or 3 percent are active.

More than 24.3 million people in the country have been fully vaccinated against the disease, while nearly 28 million others have received their first dose. The government aims to fully vaccinate more than 77 million to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.