Metro Manila and 4 Nearby Provinces Reverts Back to GCQ Until August 31
In a public address on Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that the National Capital Region (NCR) and areas of Bulacan Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal will revert back to a less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) starting today, August 19, until August 31.
This is after Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to put Metro Manila and four nearby provinces back to GCQ.
Duterte also said that the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Batangas, and Quezon provinces, together with the cities of Iloilo, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, and Talisay and the municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu are also placed under GCQ.
“For the rest of the Philippines, modified general community quarantine,” Duterte said. “So, we just be careful, follow the safeguards.”
Further, local government units in Metro Manila will impose a unified curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. as agreed by Metro Manila mayors.
Meanwhile, almost all industries are allowed to reopen including restaurants’ dine-in operations, as well as religious activities at 30% capacity. Duterte also reiterated that the transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is not required for asymptomatic employees returning to work.
However, “priority workers” in the sectors of manufacturing, tourism, and public service with high COVID-19 cases “may undergo RT-PCR test” according to Duterte. He also added that employers of the sectors aforementioned “are highly encouraged” to have their employees undergo COVID-19 testing “at no cost”.
“We want to ensure the safety of our people. However, some sectors, especially the MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are barely surviving,” Duterte said.
As of August 18, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 169,213, with a total number of 112,862 recoveries and 2,687 deaths.
