MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is relaxing a lockdown in the capital, the country’s epicenter of coronavirus infections, in a tightrope move as the economy weakens and the government spends money to help feed millions of poor families restricted to their homes.
Duterte said Thursday night that metropolitan Manila will move to a more relaxed quarantine on Monday after more than two months of police- and military-enforced lockdown that restrained public mobility and most economic activities.
The economy contracted in the first quarter in its weakest run in two decades. More work and business operations, along with public transport, will be allowed to resume under the new arrangement, but physical distancing, face masks and