MANILA - The cities of Cebu and Mandaue will remain under enhanced community quarantine or ECQ while additional areas will be placed under a looser lockdown that reboots the economy from Saturday, government's inter-agency task force on pandemic response said.

In a new resolution issued late Friday, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases revised the status of areas under quarantine, making the two Visayas cities the places under strictest lockdown in the country.

• READ: IATF resolution on quarantine areas from May 16 to 31, 2020

Malacañang earlier announced that Cebu City, Metro Manila and Laguna province would be placed under modified ECQ starting Saturday, May 16, that would let the economy restart by allowing select industries to operate up to 50-percent capacity.

Cebu and Mandaue cities appealed to keep their ECQ status because local authorities have yet to finish mass testing for COVID-19.

The 2 cities will stay under ECQ until May 31, the inter-agency task force said in a resolution.

JUST IN: Pagsasailalim sa Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Zambales at Angeles City sa modified enhanced community quarantine, aprubado na ng IATF.

Mandaue City at Cebu City, mapapasailalim naman sa enhanced community quarantine base sa resolution 37. | @joycebalancio pic.twitter.com/pDbxHtBypP

— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) May 15, 2020

Several areas were, meanwhile, added to the list of places under modified lockdown, other than Metro Manila and Laguna.

These include the following "transitioning high-risk" areas in Central Luzon:

• Bataan
• Bulacan
• Nueva Ecija
• Pampanga
• Zambales
• Angeles City

All other areas in the country will be placed under general community quarantine or GCQ, that would allow almost all industries to operate up to 75 percent except amusement and those with mass gatherings.

Papasok na sa Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine ang ilang lugar sa Pilipinas simula Sabado, Mayo 16, kabilang na ang Metro Manila.

Ang ibang lugar naman ay sasailalim na sa General Community Quarantine.

Ano-ano nga ba ang pinagkaiba ng mga ito? pic.twitter.com/E0MbPlggGJ

— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) May 15, 2020

Government in mid-March declared a lockdown in all of Luzon in a bid to contain the coronavirus disease, which first started spreading in Metro Manila.

As of Friday, over 12,000 cases have been confirmed in the country.

• Modified, enhanced, general quarantine: What's the difference?