President Rodrigo Roa Duterte approved Monday the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) retaining the general community quarantine (GCQ) imposed on Metro Manila from September 1 to 30.

In a public address, President Duterte said that aside from the National Capital Region (NCR), the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas and cities of Tacloban and Bacolod would also be under GCQ for a month.

Iligan City was put under stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) to stem the rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. The rest of the country are under more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

The government is implementing one-month community quarantine period instead of two-week durations it imposed in the past.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer for the National Action Plan Against COVID-19, said they are looking at the remaining focus areas such as the NCR, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon.

In the Visayas region, Western Iloilo City, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are under close watch.

The government is also increasing bed capacities of hospitals to accommodate more COVID-19 patients, Galvez said, adding they target to add around 1,000 hospital beds in Metro Manila.

“Dahil kasi pagka nagplano po tayo na magluwag sa ekonomiya, kailangan po talaga palakasin po natin ang treatment facility po natin especially po ‘yung ICU at ating mga ER,” Galvez told the President.

“At the same time, palakasin din po natin ‘yung treatment capacity lalo na po ng Metro Manila at saka ‘yung mga centers na nakikita po natin na pagka nag-open po ay may possibility po na umangat po ang mga severe cases.”

Currently, there were 220,819 confirmed infections throughout the country as of Monday. A total of 157,562 individuals recovered from the disease while 3,558 died. PND