MANILA, Philippines — Some of the business establishments allowed to reopen under relaxed quarantine guidelines will be temporarily shut again in areas to be placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the Department of Trade and Industry said Monday.
Trade Sec. Ramon Lopez said the DTI “hopes that this break will allow these businesses to sufficiently prepare for better processes and facilities for compliance to the health standards when they soon reopen.”
“Under the MECQ, there are still a number of business sectors allowed although most at limited scale, while some of the recently allowed sectors under GCQ (general community quarantine) such as dine-in restaurants, barbershops, salons, and the recent additions such as gyms, review and testing centers, other personal grooming shops, internet cafes, shall not be allowed temporarily in the next 15 days,” Lopez said in a statement.
He also said that the department hopes that this move to reimpose MECQ will break the increasing trend of confirmed COVID-19 cases and will eventually pave the way to bring back livelihood and jobs.
President Rodrigo Duterte heeded the appeal of medical professionals to reimpose stricter lockdown measures in Metro Manila and nearby provinces due to continuous increase of COVID-19 cases under relaxed community quarantine measures.
Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan will be placed again under the stricter MECQ from August 4 to 18 under the new order.
“In the difficulty of balancing health and the economy, the latest pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte is a temporary step back to heed the call of medical practitioners. As mentioned the other day, the Department of Trade and Industry is finding ways to address their concerns,” said Lopez.
“We believe in the wisdom of our President to temporarily institute stricter measures under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) to prevent the growing number of cases, especially in the last five days,” he added.
The complete list of business establishments allowed to operate under different community quarantine setups can be viewed here.