President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to retain the general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila and five other areas from October 1 to 31.

During a meeting with the President, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced that aside from Metro Manila, Bacolod City, Batangas, Iligan City, Iloilo City, and Tacloban City will also be under GCQ for the same period.

Lanao del Sur including Marawi City will be under the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for one month to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The rest of the country will remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the lowest quarantine level.

President Duterte previously approved IATF’s recommendation to place Metro Manila, Batangas, Bulacan and the cities of Tacloban and Bacolod under GCQ from September 1 to 30.
Iloilo City was put under the stricter MECQ.

The Philippines has so far reported around 307,288 COVID-19 cases as of Monday. A total of 5,381 died, while 252,665 recovered from ailments caused by the virus. PND