(UPDATED) The entire Central Visayas region, including the highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Mandaue, as well as Zamboanga City in Mindanao have been added to the list of areas that will shift to general community quarantine (GCQ) on June 1.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced Saturday, May 30, that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved Resolution No. 41, which contains these revisions.
Under this resolution, the final list of GCQ areas from June 1 to 15, 2020 includes the following:
* National Capital Region (Metro Manila)
* Cagayan Valley (Region 2)
* Central Luzon (Region 3)
* Calabarzon (Region 4-A)
* Pangasinan
* Davao City
* Central Visayas (Region 7), including Cebu City and Mandaue City
* Zamboanga City
The rest of the country would be under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), which is a step closer to the lifting of restrictions and the implementation of a new normal.
Albay province, which was earlier included among the GCQ areas as announced by President Rodrigo Duterte Thursday night, would be under MGCQ.
"Lilinawin ko po, ang Cebu at ang Mandaue City po ay nasa GCQ na rin (Let me be clear. Cebu City and Mandaue City will also be under GCQ)," Roque said during the Laging Handa virtual briefing Saturday, May 30.
The cities of Cebu and Mandaue are under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until May 31. Cebu City is the second epicenter of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) epidemic in the country next to Metro Manila.
Roque said the IATF held a meeting Friday night, May 29, to decide on the appeals of some local government units (LGUs) on their quarantine status.
The LGUs were given until noon of May 29 to make their appeal, less than 24 hours after Duterte made the announcement.
Roque reiterated that the entire country would still be under community quarantine and the police would still enforce quarantine protocols in all LGUs, whether under GCQ or MGCQ.
Under GCQ, public transportation systems will be allowed to resume operations at limited capacity and non-essential but non-leisure businesses will be allowed to reopen.
Roque said Resolution No. 41 also allows barbershops and salons to reopen beginning June 7 but customers will be limited to 30 percent of a shop's capacity.
After two weeks, restrictions may be eased so that barbershops and salons may be allowed to serve up to 50 percent of capacity.
In areas under MGCQ, restrictions will be further eased and the people may be allowed to move about as long as physical distancing and minimum health protocols such as wearing of face masks and frequent use of sanitizers or washing of hands are observed.
Barbershops and salons may now operate at 50 percent capacity and go full blast after three weeks.
"Pero, huwag po kayo masyadong ma-excite dahil limitado po ang mga barbero at mga salon sa paggugupit. Wala pa ring facial, wala pa ring sa kuko, wala pa ring pagtatanggal ng mga eyebrows. Hanggang gupit lang tayo," Roque said.
(But don't get excited. Services will be limited to haircut in barber shops and salons. No manicure/pedicure and eyebrow shaping yet.)
READ: GCQ vs MGCQ: Know the difference
Restrictions are being eased after May 31, nearly three months after these were first imposed, despite the increasing number of confirmed coronavirus infections and rising death toll in the country.
The Department of Health (DOH) has clarified that the increasing numbers are merely due to their improved capability to validate positive test results and address the backlog in reporting.
Hundreds of Covid-19 patients are sick and even dead for days or weeks before infection is confirmed.
On May 29, the DOH recorded a surge in confirmed cases to 16,634 with the inclusion of 1,000 late cases on top of the 46 fresh cases, or a total of 1,046 cases in just 24 hours.
Fresh cases refer to positive test results that were released in the last three days while late cases refer to results that were released at least four days ago but were reported to the DOH Epidemiology Bureau only in the last 24 hours.
It was the highest number of cases reported within a 24-hour period, almost double the 539 cases confirmed on May 28 and 538 cases on March 31.
READ: Infections surge as DOH lists 1,000 late cases
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has warned that the numbers will continue to increase because of the hiring of more encoders and the deployment of the Covid-Kaya mobile information system.
To better reflect the situation on the ground and allay fears caused by the spikes, the DOH has modified its case bulletin to reflect both the fresh and late cases. (Marites Villamor-Ilano/SunStar Philippines)