MANILA, Philippines — The government task force on COVID-19 pandemic response opted to impose a longer quarantine period to provide local government units (LGUs) with “more stability” in handling the crisis, Malacañang said Tuesday.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) usually imposes varying degrees of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in different areas for only 14 days.
But on Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte approved IATF’s proposal to impose month-long quarantines in different areas in the country.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who is also IATF’s official mouthpiece, said the longer period will give local governments more time to keep steady the implementation of their respective anti-COVID measures, especially their localized or granular lockdowns.
“Napakahirap po kasi kung magbabago ang rules every two weeks. So every month na po, hindi lang siya magiging stable at malo-localize din po ngayon ang mga ginagawa ng mga LGUs kasama na din po diyan ‘yung localized at granular lockdowns. So parang mas merong continuity kung one month po,” Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing.
Metro Manila, the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas, and cities of Tacloban and Bacolod will be under the more lenient general community quarantine (GCQ) until September 30.
READ: Duterte keeps Metro Manila under GCQ until Sept 30
Meanwhile, the rest of the country will be placed under the most lenient modified general community quarantine or MGCQ except for Iligan City, which will be under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for a month.
Roque explained that Iligan City was placed under MECQ due to its low healthcare capacity.
The government has recorded a total of 220,819 coronavirus infections nationwide as of August 31. Of which, the government said 157,562 have already recovered while 3,558 died.
More than half or 124,077 of the total confirmed cases were from Metro Manila, according to authorities.