About 3.5 million adult Filipinos were left stranded due to the community quarantine imposed by the government in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
In the survey conducted from July 3 to 6 among 1,555 respondents, the SWS found out that 5.1 percent or an estimated 3.5 million of Filipinos were stranded by community quarantines based on the 2020 projected population of 69.5 million adults.
The SWS noted that this is almost the same as the 5.4 percent or estimated 4.1 million working-age persons stranded by community quarantines in May 2020.
In the survey, the respondents were asked if they are staying in their own home or if they are currently stranded in a temporary shelter somewhere following the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
SWS said that the proportion of those stranded in another place because of the community quarantines was highest at 8 percent or an estimated 1.3 million among those whose permanent homes are in Mindanao, followed by 5.9 percent or an estimated 770,000 among those whose permanent homes are in the Visayas, 4.1 percent or an estimated 1.3 million among those whose permanent homes are in Balance Luzon, and 2.1 percent estimated 200,000 among those whose permanent homes are in Metro Manila.
It added that the July 2020 figures are not statistically different from May 2020, with those stranded by community quarantines at 6.4 percent or an estimated 1.1 million among those whose permanent homes are in Mindanao, 5.3 percent or an estimated 1.8 million among those whose permanent homes are in Balance Luzon, 5 percent or an estimated 710,000 among those whose permanent homes are in the Visayas, and 4.8 percent or an estimated 490,000 among those whose permanent homes are in Metro Manila.
Data were gathered through mobile phone interviews of adult Filipinos 18 years old and above, randomly drawn from a database of mobile phone numbers compiled from SWS national and subnational representative face-to-face surveys since 2017.
SWS noted the sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, and ±5% for Balance Luzon, ±5% Visayas, and ±5% in Mindanao.