Apayao, Bulacan, Capiz under GCQ

MANILA, Philippines — The provinces of Apayao and Bulacan, both in Luzon, as well as Capiz in the Visayas will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) starting today until the end of this month, Malacañang said yesterday.

Before the restrictions were eased, Apayao and Bulacan were under modified enhanced community quarantine while Capiz was under GCQ with heightened restrictions, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

Areas outside Metro Manila are under the four-level community quarantine classification system, with the enhanced community quarantine or ECQ as the strictest, and the modified general community quarantine or MGCQ as the most lenient.

A five-level alert system with granular lockdowns is being pilot-tested in Metro Manila from Sept. 16.

From Alert Level 4, the National Capital Region was eased to Alert Level 3 from Oct. 16 to 31 as COVID cases continue to decrease.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments are allowed to operate at 30-percent indoor capacity for fully vaccinated individuals, and at 50-percent outdoor capacity for other customers regardless of their vaccination status.

Full vaccination is required for workers in these establishments.

The government is considering the provinces in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) as well as Cebu and Davao as the next areas for the implementation of the alert level system, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

The Philippines logged over 2.7 million COVID cases as of Saturday.