Metro Manila quarantine level stays; Cebu back to stricter lockdown

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte decided on Monday to keep partial restrictions in place in Metro Manila up to the end of June because the threat from the new coronavirus was still present.

Mr. Duterte also decided to reinstate strict lockdown rules in Cebu City, the country’s fifth most populous city, following an increase in coronavirus infections there.

“The battle against COVID-19 is not yet over,” Mr. Duterte said in a televised address late on Monday, referring to the severe respiratory ailment caused by the new coronavirus, which has now infected more than 8 million people across the globe, killing more than 430,000 of them.

Economic revival

The government further eased quarantine restrictions in provinces and cities with low cases of the virus to help revive the economy, which was expected to shrink for the first time in more than two decades this year.

The lockdown in Metro Manila, which was one of the world’s longest and strictest, was relaxed to general community quarantine on June 1 to allow a partial resumption of business activity and reduce the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic.

The relaxed restrictions, which allowed the reopening of more industries, some public transportation, and movement in and out of the capital, were set to expire on Monday but were recommended for retention for another two weeks by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases because of sharp spikes in new infections in recent days.

“We are gradually easing restrictions to make way for our economic viability as individuals and as a nation, but it does not mean we will forget our minimum health standards,” Mr. Duterte said.

Under the partial restrictions, schools, tourist destinations, movie houses, nightclubs and other entertainment and leisure industries will remain closed, although restaurants in Metro Manila have been allowed to resume serving meals on a limited scale to allow more workers to go back to work.

The country’s unemployment rate surged to a record 17.7 percent in April as millions lost their jobs due to the lockdown.

Under partial restrictions

Besides Metro Manila, also under partial restrictions until June 30 are Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Santiago City, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Tarlac, Olongapo City, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon and Occidental Mindoro.

In the Visayas, under partial restrictions for another two weeks are Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City.

In Mindanao, Davao City and Zamboanga City will remain under partial restrictions up to the end of June.

The rest of the country will be under lighter quarantine restrictions until June 30.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Tuesday said the local government would enforce the lockdown, but appeal Mr. Duterte’s decision. He blamed the increasing infections in the city on backlog, but the infectious diseases task force considered other factors in recommending the city to be shut down again.

“The increasing number of new cases and widespread community transmission in majority of barangays in the city, as well as consistent case doubling time of less than seven days and significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity were the reasons cited why Cebu City reverted to [lockdown],” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday night.

The same reasons were given for putting Talisay City, south of Cebu, under modified enhanced community quarantine, Roque said.

Metro Manila still epicenter

He said the situation in Cebu did not mean the city was now the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the country. The epicenter is still Metro Manila, he said.

Cebu is just one city, he explained, while Metro Manila is a region composed of several cities some of which have high numbers of coronavirus cases.

Roque noted that there was an increase of 1,152 cases in Metro Manila if the number of cases from four weeks ago and two weeks ago were compared.

In Cebu City, he said, the increase in cases during the same period was 576.

Further, Metro Manila has more critical care beds, making the use rate lower than Cebu City, Roque said.

During a meeting with Mr. Duterte on Monday night, Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force COVID-19, said he recently traveled to Cebu and saw an increase in severe cases.

Galvez said his task force would send 20 ventilators donated by businessman Ramon Ang to Cebu province, as well as 6,000 personal protective equipment.

The Department of Health would also send a surveillance team to Cebu City on Wednesday for close observation, he said.

Local lockdowns

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he was considering deploying more policemen to Cebu City to help enforce the lockdown.

In Metro Manila, he said local authorities would lock down barangays with many virus cases.

“This is the chance to properly implement general community quarantine until June 30,” Año said.

—With a report from the wires