Malacañang denied that Metro Manila will be placed under a so-called "circuit breaker lockdown” starting next week due to the country’s rising number of cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after a message circulating via text and social media claimed that the government's pandemic task force would put Metro Manila under stricter lockdown.

The lockdown, according to the message, will last for two weeks starting Monday, March 22, to take advantage of the upcoming Holy Week. It furthered that non-essential businesses will be closed during this period.

In a text message, Roque had one word to dismiss the alleged warning.
"False," he said.

On Friday, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the closure of previously opened businesses and limiting the number of people allowed in public places from March 22 to April 4 due to the fast-rising COVID-19 cases in the country.

It likewise prohibited certain foreign nationals anew from entering the country.

Roque said on Friday that the government was trying its best to ease the number of cases without having to go on lockdown again.
"Sinusubukan po nating ipababa talaga ang numero ng COVID-19 cases nang hindi po nagsasarado nang malawakan ang ating ekonomiya. So inaasahan po natin ang kooperasyon ng lahat (We are trying to bring down the number of cases in the country without closing down the economy. We hope that the public will cooperate)," he said.

"Sa pamamagitan ng latest decision na ito ng IATF, baka naman po mapababa natin (With this decision of the IATF, maybe we can bring the number of cases down)," he added.

To date, the country has recorded 656,056 cases of COVID-19 with 7,999 recorded Saturday, March 20, the highest since the pandemic hit the country last year.