MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila is ready to return to general community quarantine (GCQ) status once the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) lapses on August 18, Defense Secretary and National Task Force against COVID-19 chairman Delfin Lorenzana said Monday. We cannot continue with the MECQ kasi alam na natin kung nasaan ang mga areas na may infection. (We will focus on known areas with many cases, so that the others can also go to work.) The country has already recorded a total of 129,913 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with additional 3,109 cases reported on Sunday. Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 tracker, Metro Manila alone has already recorded a total of 71,145 confirmed COVID-19 cases (34,821 active cases, 35,231 recoveries, and 1,093 deaths).

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 10, 2020 01:07 UTC