* Philippine lockdown longest after China, Italy
* Infections nearing 7,000, most in Manila
* Lockdown expanded to other regions, eased elsewhere
(Recasts)
By Martin Petty and Neil Jerome Morales
MANILA, April 24 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte has extended until May 15 a lockdown in the capital
Manila, his spokesman said on Friday, stretching to eight weeks
one of the world's strictest community quarantines to curb
coronavirus infections.
The measures will be expanded to other regions with big
outbreaks but modified in lower-risk areas, which would see a
partial resumption of work, transport and commerce, Harry Roque
told reporters.
Television broadcast images on Friday of a crisis panel
meeting where Duterte had made the decision late the previous
day. He even offered a reward of 50 million pesos ($986,000) to
any Filipino who could create a vaccine.
"We are all at risk, but do not increase the odds or chances
of getting it," he said, warning against complacency.
Manila, a heavily congested city of at least 13 million
people and millions more informal settlers, accounts for more
than two-thirds of the country's 6,981 infections and 462
deaths.
After China and Italy, but just a few days before Spain, the
Philippines became the third country to order tight lockdown and
home quarantine, even though it had only a fraction of the
infections and deaths of nations that took similar measures.
The Philippines introduced curbs on immigration, travel,
commerce, gatherings on March 12, five days after the first case
of domestic transmission, and expanded on March 16. It is closed
to all except repatriated Filipinos.
The approach aims to keep overstretched health services from
from being overwhelmed and create a window to ramp up testing,
which started slowly to gain ground in recent weeks.
But with just 72,000 tests, the government last week
estimated it had managed to track only a quarter of projected
infections. The health ministry has said it was too early to say
if the infection curve had been flattened. Philippine pesos)
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.)
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus deaths ID:nL4N2AY3AS
FACTBOX-Latest on global spread of coronavirus
ID:nL8N2AB5TN
Coronavirus: knowns and unknowns https://reut.rs/2UHIgvz
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>