MANILA – Considered as ground zero of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, the National Capital Region (NCR) will remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) despite the increasing number of virus infections that is straining its health system.
In a delayed broadcast that was aired Friday morning, President Rodrigo Duterte said that Metro Manila, which is home to more than 12 million people, will retain its quarantine status starting tomorrow, August 1, 2020.
In an earlier report, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque hinted that Metro Manila may be placed under stricter quarantine if the forecast of University of the Philippines of 85,000 cases by end-July is realized.
As of Friday, 31 July 2020, PH’s caseload of Covid-19 is pegged at 89,374 including 1,983 deaths.
However, a day earlier, Thursday, the Department of Health, reported a surprising single-day high number of recoveries of 38,075, pushing the total number of survivors to 65,064.
That also effectively slashed down PH’s active cases on Covid to only 22,327.
Other areas under GCQ
Meanwhile, other areas that will be under GCQ until mid-August include:
Bulacan
Cavite
Laguna
Rizal
Cebu City
Lapu-Lapu City
Mandaue City
Zamboanga City
The rest of the Philippines will be under modified general community quarantine.
