The stand comes as the nation reported 8,019 Covid-19 cases on Monday, its highest daily case count, bringing the total to more than 670,000. Previous records were reached last Friday and Saturday.
Philippine authorities prefer smaller, targeted restrictions on travel and gatherings over a hard lockdown to support the economy while trying to contain surging coronavirus infections.
“It will be a disaster for the country if you close everything,” President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte said in a live-streamed briefing Monday evening.
Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said “careful and calibrated” moves are needed to preserve jobs. “Reverting back to a stricter and blanket community quarantine is no longer an option,” he said in a statement on Monday.
The stand comes as the nation reported 8,019 Covid-19 cases on Monday, its highest daily case count, bringing the total to more than 670,000. Previous records were reached last Friday and Saturday.
The government has limited travel into and out of the capital and surrounding regions – the nation’s main economic engines – for about two weeks, but movement within the area will remain unimpeded. The pandemic has throttled the country’s economy, which is tipped to remain in recession this quarter.