MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has opted to extend the general community quarantine (GCQ) over Metro Manila and several other areas because of the continued increase in confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In a statement issued late on Monday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
The President likewise placed under GCQ several areas in Luzon until month’s end — Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Santiago City in Cagayan Valley (Region 2); Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Tarlac, Olongapo City in Central Luzon (Regoin 3); Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, or the entire Calabarzon Region (Region 4-A), and Occidental Mindoro in Mimaropa (Region 4-B).
In Central Visayas, several areas were also placed under extended GCG — Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Mandaue City, and Lau-Lapu City.
In Mindanao, the areas also under GCQ are Davao City and Zamboanga City.
Meanwhile, Cebu City has been put back to the most stringent enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the increasing number of new cases and widespread community transmission in the majority of barangays in the city. http
Talisay City, a component city under the province of Cebu, was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until June 30, 2020, for the same reasons, Roque noted.
The rest of the country remains under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until June 30.
Lockdown restrictions have been eased nationwide since June 1, with Duterte placing Metro Manila and other “high-risk” areas, including Central Visayas, under a more lenient GCQ to gradually reopen the economy that was heavily battered by the pandemic.
Roque earlier said Metro Manila — home to over 12 million people and source of more than a third of the Philippines’ gross domestic product — has an “even” chance of being downgraded to the most lenient MGCQ or remaining GCQ.
But he later admitted that the surge in “fresh” COVID-19 cases “does not inspire” the further relaxation of quarantine measures.
Experts at the University of the Philippines earlier warned that the number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines could shoot up to 40,000 by the end of June as the country was still experiencing a “significant” community transmission of the disease over four months since it was first reported in the country.
Currently, there are 26,420 COVID-19 cases nationwide, including 6,252 recoveries and 1,098 deaths.