MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has approved face-to-face classes for some medical courses in areas with the lowest quarantine levels to ensure the country would have enough health frontliners, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The in-person classes that Duterte authorized are for "medical and allied programs", said his spokesman Harry Roque.

"Ito po ay sa mga med schools and iyong mga medical allied programs sa mga higher educational institutions sa MGCQ, at para po sa mga higher education institutes in GCQ areas with base hospitals that cater to COVID-19 patients," he said.

(These are in medical schools and medical allied programs in higher educational institutions in areas under modified general community quarantine, and for higher education institutes in GCQ areas with base hospitals that cater to COVID-19 patients.)

"Ito po ay para hindi tayo maubusan ng mga doktor," Roque told reporters in an online briefing.

(This is so that we will not run out of doctors.)

The inter-agency task force leading the country's pandemic response earlier approved face-to-face medical internship at the University of the Philippines-Manila.

Face-to-face classes in schools across the country have been prohibited since last year to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As of Monday, the Philippines has recorded 514,996 coronavirus infections, including 29,282 active cases, 10,292 deaths, and 474,422 recoveries.

• PH reports 1,581 new COVID-19 cases; total nears 515,000

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