The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has decided to impose enhanced community quarantine, the strictest quarantine classification, in four provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao due to rising cases of coronavirus disease, Malacañang said on Friday.

In a recorded video, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the task force escalated the community quarantine classification of Iloilo province and Iloilo City from modified ECQ until July 22 to ECQ until July 31. The two areas are in the Visayas region.

"From its initial MECQ classification until July 31, 2021, Cagayan de Oro is now placed under ECQ until July 31, 2021. The City of Gingoog in the province of Misamis Oriental is likewise placed under ECQ until the end of the month," Roque said of the places found in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Roque,also the IATF spokesman, said general community quarantine with heightened restrictions classification of Antique has been extended from July 22 to July 31.

Misamis Oriental, which was under modified GCQ classification until July 31 has been placed to GCQ with heightened restrictions until the end of the month.

The reclassification was made upon the recommendations of the Department of Health, its Technical Advisory Group, and the Technical Working Group on COVID-19 Variants, he added. Celerina Monte/DMS