President Rodrigo Duterte has retained Metro Manila, Baguio City, and Davao City under general community quarantine (GCQ) for the month of March.

“Also under GCQ are, for Luzon, Batangas and some areas in Cordillera Administrative Region which include Apayao, Kalinga and Mountain Province; Tacloban City for the Visayas; Iligan City and Lanao del Sur for Mindanao,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement on Saturday.

“All other areas are placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ),” Roque added.

He said the risk-level classifications will take effect until the end of the month.

Last February 22, Duterte thumbed down the proposal of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to place the entire Philippines under MGCQ unless the government rolls out its vaccination program.

Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, is expected to arrive on Sunday and immunization roll out will start on March 1.

Based on Department of Health data on Saturday, the country has 574,247 total COVID-19 cases with 524,865 recoveries and 12,289 fatalities. Ella Dionisio/DMS