Philippine authorities will be easing restrictions on movement in the national capital Manila starting this week despite the reported rise in COVID-19 cases in the past days.
Government spokesman Harry Roque said the national pandemic task force has approved a proposal to place the national capital under “general community quarantine” from September 8 to 30.
“The guidelines will be released, at the latest, tomorrow,” said Roque.
He said the new quarantine measure will be different from previous ones with the introduction of “granular lockdowns” in areas where COVID-19 cases are reported.
Meanwhile, restaurants will be opened and religious gatherings will be allowed up to 10 percent of the capacity of the venue.
On Monday, September 6, the Philippines recorded 22,415 new COVID-19 cases. While 20,109 were reported to have recovered from the disease, there were 103 who died.
The country has now a total of 59,633 active COVID-19 cases and 34,337 who died.
The health department has logged a positivity rate of 28.8 percent out of 73,264 tests in its bulletin. This positivity rate means that nearly 3 in 10 people tested turned out positive for the virus.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier ordered the lifting of a ban on travelers from 10 countries including India, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
The ban, introduced in April then expanded to more countries in July to prevent the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, has been lifted on Monday.
Travelers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia will have to spend 14 days in quarantine upon arrival.
