By Philippine authorities prefer smaller, targeted restrictions 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 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.
