MANILA - The National Capital Region and nine other areas will remain under general community quarantine in March to contain the spread of COVID-19, Malacañang said Saturday.

This, as the country saw an increase in COVID-19 cases in recent days, with authorities keeping close watch of new, more transmissible virus variants.

"Aprubado na ng presidente ang classification para sa buwan ng Marso. Mananatili po sa general community quarantine o GCQ classification ang National Capital Region, Baguio City at Davao City," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.

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Here's the full list of areas under GCQ:

• Metro Manila
• Apayao
• Baguio City
• Kalinga
• Mt. Province
• Batangas
• Tacloban City
• Iligan City
• Davao City
• Lanao del Sur

The rest of the country will be under modified general community quarantine, the least stringent restriction, including the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao and Davao del Norte, which were under GCQ throughout February.

Metro Manila, which accounts for about a third of the country's gross domestic product, has been under GCQ since August 2020, with stricter lockdowns enforced in earlier months as COVID-19 infections rose.

Meanwhile, the government is preparing for the arrival of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, the first batch of coronavirus vaccines to reach the country.

On Friday, the interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) on Friday announced that it was recommending the use of Sinovac for health workers, despite earlier reservations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its 50.4% efficacy.

The Philippines on Friday recorded over 2,600 more cases of COVID-19, the highest single-day tally in over 4 months. It has logged a total of 571, 327 COVID-19 infections since the outbreak nearly a year ago.

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