Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is reimposing a moderate lockdown in the capital and outlying provinces after medical groups appealed for the move as coronavirus infections surge alarmingly
August 3, 2020, 2:02 AM
3 min read
MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is reimposing a moderate lockdown in the capital and outlying provinces after medical groups appealed for the move as coronavirus infections surge alarmingly.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Monday that metropolitan Manila, the capital region of more than 12 million people, and five densely populated provinces will revert to stricter quarantine restrictions for two weeks starting Tuesday. Mass public transport will be barred and only essential travel will be allowed.
Leaders of nearly 100 medical organizations held a rare online news conference Saturday and warned that the health system has been overwhelmed by infection spikes and may collapse as health workers fall ill or resign from exhaustion and fear.
They asked Duterte to reimpose a tight lockdown in the capital to allow health workers “a time out” and allow the government to recalibrate its response to the pandemic.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged past 103,000 on Sunday and is second-most in Southeast Asia.
While he granted the demand, Duterte appeared irritated by the medical groups' criticism, saying they could have talked to him first. “If you will stage a revolution, you will give me the free ticket to stage a counter-revolution. How I wish you would do it,” Duterte said in his televised remarks Sunday night.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— An outbreak in China’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang is continuing to subside, with 28 new cases reported Monday. The outbreak of 590 cases so far has been concentrated in the capital, Urumqi, where authorities have conducted mass testing, cut public transport, isolated some communities and restricted travel. Yet, while mainland China’s latest outbreak appears to have peaked, authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong are struggling to contain infections, with more than 200 added over the weekend.
— South Korea has confirmed 23 additional cases of the coronavirus, amid a downward trend in the number of locally infected patients. The additional cases announced Monday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the country’s total to 14,389 with 301 deaths. The agency says 20 new cases came from overseas while the rest were locally infected. Health authorities have said imported cases are less threatening to the wider community as they enforce two-week quarantines on all people arriving from abroad.
