MANILA, Philippines (Updated 10:15 p.m.) — The world's longest lockdown stretches even further with President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night extending until next year the community quarantine in the country, nearly 10 months since it was put in place.
The following areas will be under general community quarantine from January 1 to 31:
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- Metro Manila
- Davao City
- Tacloban City
- Santiago City
- Iligan City
- Iloilo City
- Isabela
- Batangas
- Lanao del Sur
- Davao del Norte
The rest of the country will be under the more lenient modified GCQ for that same period.
It came as government braces for a post-holiday surge in infections, and as the country remains on the lookout against a new variant of the coronavirus first detected in the United Kingdom and since reported in other countries as well.
Duterte first put Luzon under lockdown in March, when community transmission of the deadly virus had been confirmed.
The Enhanced Community Quarantine—the most stringent level of quarantine—was lifted in June. The slowdown in activity hit the economy hard and plunged it into a recession.
More modes of transportation have since been allowed for Filipinos slowly returning to work, and capacities in business establishments were increased as government shifted its tune from prohibiting individuals to go out to enjoining them to step out of their homes.
The total number of cases in the Philippines has gone beyond 470,000 and deaths are above 9,100 with just a few days before the year ends.
Coronavirus infections in the Philippines put it at the 29th highest in the world, and is the second in Southeast Asia, next only to Indonesia's 713,000 cases.
Over the course of the pandemic, the Duterte administration has faced criticism that it is militarizing its response to a public health crisis, putting retired military officials to lead the coronavirus task force and ordering police and military to carry out curbs.
Most recently, government came under fire after it was revealed that some military personnel including the president's security, had already been inoculated with the Chinese-made Sinopharm, despite having no authorization yet from officials at home.
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Its vaccination program, with a P72.5 billion funding and a target to inoculate 24.7 million Filipinos early 2021, is facing doubts as well, as it opts for 25 million doses of Sinovac, another Chinese-made vaccine, pegged at only 50% efficacy rate and the second most expensive.
Officials have denied that the country is lagging behind in the bid to buy the vaccines, but it has yet to sign any procurement deals with drugmakers as Duterte only allowed making advanced payments in November.
Per his own foreign affairs secretary, the country could have had 10 million doses of America's Pfizer had someone not "dropped the ball," an allegation pertaining to Duque that he has since denied.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has said that the earliest vaccine to arrive in the Philippines could be China's Sinovac, followed by the 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca that was secured through a P600-million donation from the private sector.
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