MANILA (UPDATE) - Metro Manila and four other areas will remain under general community quarantine until Sept. 30, President Rodrigo Duterte announced Monday night.

Aside from the National Capital Region, the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas, and the cities of Tacloban and Bacolod will also remain under GCQ as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Iligan City in Lanao del Norte, on the other hand, will be placed under modified enhanced community quarantine, also until Sept. 30.

Duterte said the rest of the country will remain under modified general community quarantine for a month.

This is the first time that quarantine classifications lasted for a month. Since the start of pandemic lockdowns in mid-March, the government has routinely revised community quarantine classifications of parts of the country every 15 days.

The Philippines employs a 4-level community quarantine scheme ranging from the strictest enhanced community quarantine to the most relaxed modified GCQ.

The quarantine level dictates the type of business activities allowed in a certain area, as well as travel restrictions.

From Aug. 16 to 31, all parts of the Philippines were placed under two quarantine levels - GCQ and MGCQ.

Starting Sept. 1, gyms and personal care centers will be allowed to resume limited operations.

Review, testing, and tutorial centers will also be allowed to reopen in Metro Manila and other GCQ areas up to 30 percent of their capacity, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez earlier said.

• Gyms, personal care services to resume operations on Sept. 1: trade chief

Coronavirus infections in the Philippines reached 220,819 on Monday, of which 59,699 are active cases.

The country's first infection was reported on Jan. 30 in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.

• COVID-19 cases in PH breach 220,000, as projected by UP research group