MANILA, Philippines – The number of confirmed coronavirus patients in the country has reached 13,777, as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 180 new cases as of 4 pm on Saturday, May 23.

The agency reported 6 new fatalities, bringing the total death count to 863.

Meanwhile, 85 more patients have recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total recoveries to 3,177.

There are currenlty 9,737 active coronavirus cases in the country, the DOH said.

Of the 180 new cases, 114 or 63% were from the National Capital Region.

As Metro Manila and several provinces in Luzon approach the scheduled and of their modified enhanced community quarantine on June 1, the government is looking at enforcing a new scheme to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus.

On Friday, May 22, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr, the chief implementer of government policies on COVID-19, said his task force would propose a “zoning” method of putting areas in quarantine according to the location of reported cases of the disease.

Like concentric circles, 4 zones will be centered around an area with reported transmissions of the coronavirus, each zone placed under tougher restrictions the closer they are to ground zero.

The “critical area” is the nucleus – the precise location of the transmissions – where a hard lockdown would be imposed.

Immediately surrounding this critical area is the “containment area,” which would also be under strict quarantine because of its proximity to the location of the transmissions.

Right outside the containment area is a “buffer zone,” an area without reported transmissions of the virus but must be closely guarded for its proximity to the affected area. Here, economic activity may be reduced by as much as 50%, Galvez said.

Outside the buffer zone is the “economic area,” where there would be significantly less restrictions on businesses and work.

Although this scheme is just a proposal, several local governments have already imposed hard lockdowns on specific barangays or districts where high concentrations of coronavirus cases were detected. – Rappler.com