Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 29) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday announced the new quarantine status of some areas in the country for the month of April.
Santiago City, Isabela will be placed under modified enhanced community quarantine, the second strictest classification, from April 1 to April 30.
MECQ will likewise be implemented in Quirino province, but only from April 1 to 15. This will be de-escalated to general community quarantine by the regional COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force should the situation improve after the said period, Duterte said.
As earlier announced, the National Capital Region and the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal will be under the most stringent ECQ until April 4. The situation in the five areas is still being monitored by authorities, as the country continues to see spikes in infections.
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In the rest of Luzon, the entire Cordillera Administrative Region, as well as Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Batangas will be placed under GCQ for the entire month. Also under GCQ are Tacloban City in the Visayas and Iligan City, Davao City, and Lanao del Sur in Mindanao.
The rest of the country will be placed under the most lenient modified GCQ status.
Earlier in the day, the Philippines recorded 10,016 new COVID-19 cases — its highest single day tally yet. It was the sixth time in less than two weeks that the country set a new record high. The newly confirmed infections brought the total count to 731,894, of which 115,495 are active cases
