Duterte tightens virus quarantine in northern Philippines
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday placed the northern third of the country under an “enhanced community quarantine” that requires millions of people to stay mostly at home in an attempt to contain the coronavirus, which has killed 12 people in the Southeast Asian nation.
Under the monthlong containment, most office work and public transportation on Luzon Island, which includes Manila, will be suspended, officials said. Public movement will be restricted, with residents allowed to buy food at stores but not to crowd together, they said.
Banks, hospitals and supermarkets will remain open.
Duterte also placed the rest of the Philippines under “a state of public health emergency” and ordered mayors and village officials to take steps to fight the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the archipelago of more than 100 million people.
“This is not martial law,” Duterte said in televised remarks. “Don't get scared because nobody will display their guns.” But he also threatened people who defy the moves with arrest.
In an initial attempt to isolate large numbers of Filipinos on Sunday, Duterte placed metropolitan Manila, home to more than 12 million people, in a monthlong “community quarantine” that suspended most domestic travel to and from the capital and prohibited large public gatherings.
Movement of cargo, food shipments and workers, however, were allowed in and out of the capital, officials said.
Police and army troops manned checkpoints at entryways to the metropolis starting Sunday, checking the temperatures of commuters in a laborious effort that snarled traffic. A lack of clear guidelines sparked confusion and arguments in many areas.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said many loopholes set back the first containment attempt, with commuters still cramming public buses and crowding together at checkpoints on Monday. That prompted some Cabinet officials to recommend a more drastic containment effort to the president, Panelo said in a televised news conference, where he wore a protective mask.
“This is a matter of national survival,” Panelo said. “This is a matter of life and death.”
Philippine health officials reported 29 new cases of coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the number of cases in the country to 140. Twelve of those infected have died, the most in any country in Southeast Asia.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri announced Monday he had tested positive for the virus, becoming the highest Philippine official to be infected. He said he didn’t have any symptoms and went into self-quarantine after a congressional session last week. “I got contaminated. How? I do not know,” he said on Facebook.
The 74-year-old Duterte tested negative for the virus last week, officials said.
While the virus can be deadly, particularly for the elderly and people with other health problems, for most people it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. Some feel no symptoms at all and the vast majority of people recover.
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