Chinanews, August 18, comprehensive foreign media reports, on the evening of the 17th local time, Philippine President Duterte announced that the government has decided to lift the blockade measures on Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, and promised to accelerate the response to the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Including the expansion of virus detection operations.
On August 13, local time, at the GREENBELT5 shopping mall in the Makati green belt business district in the CBD of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, security guards and staff responsible for temperature measurement wore masks and face shields to work.
According to reports, Duterte made this announcement on television after meeting with the Cabinet late at night on the 17th. Duterte said: "We must reopen the economy, because small and medium-sized enterprises are struggling to survive." He also urged the people to "comply with safety and epidemic prevention measures."
Due to the rebound of the epidemic, the Philippine government, under pressure, resumed the implementation of the second-level "Improved Enhanced Community Quarantine" (MECQ) in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces on August 4. This measure expired on August 18.
Duterte’s spokesman Harry Rock said that according to regulations that will take effect on August 19, most restaurants will be allowed to reopen. He added that the government will continue to conduct house-to-house inspections to track confirmed patients with mild or asymptomatic conditions so that they can be sent to isolation centers.
The Philippines is still the most severely affected country in Southeast Asia, with a total of more than 160,000 confirmed cases and nearly 2,700 deaths.