Duterte to announce new quarantine classifications on Monday, says Año

November 29, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce the new quarantine classifications for Metro Manila and other areas in the country on Monday.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Año said Duterte will hold a meeting with some members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Malacañang prior to the announcement.

“The President will decide and announce the new quarantine classification in different areas and there will be other announcement related to COVID-19,” he said.

According to the secretary, the Metro Manila mayors are asking the IATF to recommend to Duterte to further implement the general community quarantine (GCQ) that is set to lapse by Monday.

“Initially, there is already a discussion in the IATF but later tonight we will have another consultation on the mayors of National Capital Region (NCR), we need to listen to their opinion and recommendation but the mayors have already discussed and they want to end Christmas under GCQ,” Año said.

He said the Metro Manila mayors made such recommendation for fear that COVID-19 cases could surge due to gatherings that are usually being held during the Christmas season.

Año said he already ordered the police and LGUs to deploy more people in places of convergence as people flock in "tiangges" and malls.

The Department of Health (DOH) already warned the public that the forthcoming Christmas season has the real potential to be a "super spreader" event for COVID-19.

Año urged the public to continue cooperating with the government and following the minimum health standards as the number of COVID-19 cases on a daily basis continues to decrease. Ella Dionisio/DMS