Duterte puts Philippines capital on lockdown ‘to stop spread of coronavirus’

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday announced strict immigration curbs and a halt on domestic land, sea and air travel to and from Metro Manila, in a “lockdown” of the capital to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The president approved a resolution allowing a raft of measures including bans on mass gatherings, a month of school closures and community quarantining, and threatened to jail local officials who defied government orders, Reuters reports.

Duterte, who underwent a test himself on Thursday due to possible exposure, said the measures would include banning foreigners traveling from countries with domestic transmissions from entering the Philippines.

It follows confirmation on Saturday of the Philippines’ first domestic transmission of the virus, and a subsequent rise in cases daily to 52, among those five deaths, resulting in the Manila lockdown.