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Philippine authorities have restricted travel to and from the capital and surrounding regions for about two weeks as coronavirus cases hit records.
Metropolitan Manila and neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal will be placed in a “bubble” from March 22 to April 4, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a live-streamed briefing on Sunday. Travel within the bubble will be unimpeded, he said.
Religious gatherings and indoor dining in restaurants are prohibited, while attendance at weddings, baptisms and funerals will be restricted within the bubble, Roque said. There will be a curfew, he said.
The order comes as the nation posted its second-highest daily coronavirus count on Sunday, a day after reaching a record number of daily cases. Essential workers, including those in the health and humanitarian sectors and some government frontliners, as well as those seeking medical treatment and going to the airport for foreign travel, are exempt from the ban, Roque said.