MANILA (UPDATE)- The province of Ilocos Norte will remain under enhanced community quarantine to further curb the fast-spreading novel coronavirus, its governor Matthew Manotoc said Thursday.
Manotoc said in a press briefing that even though the national government included Ilocos Norte among areas that can shift to the loosened "general community quarantine," he ordered the province to stay under ECQ until further notice to prevent a rapid rise of COVID-19 cases.
"Status quo muna tayo even though the government has categorized as GCQ, my order and my request is to remain under ECQ, pending the approval of IATF (inter-agency task force on coronavirus response) for the specific modified GCQ that I have requested," he said.
"So wala akong masyadong exciting na news para sa inyo, tuloy-tuloy lang pasensya na but I think this is the best for us."
Ilocos Norte was initially among areas the national government allowed to shift to GCQ due to the low number of COVID-19 cases in the province.
The province earlier said it had "flattened the curve" of coronavirus cases.
--Report from Dianne Dy-Asuncion, ABS-CBN News
Regional news, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Norte update, Ilocos Norte cases, Ilocos Norte coronavirus, Ilocos Norte COVID-19, Ilocos Norte lockdown, Ilocos Norte ECQ, Ilocos Norte enhanced community quarantine, Ilocos Norte GCQ, Ilocos Norte general community quarantine