Manila, the capital of the Philippines, has been in strict lockdown for almost 11 weeks now, The Guardian reports, but the number of new cases of coronavirus continues to rise.
Now, the country's coronavirus task force has advised President Rodrigo Duterte to ease restrictions. "This is really a compromise," a presidential spokesman said. "We need to reopen the economy."
So far, the Philippines has 15,049 confirmed virus cases and 904 deaths. Confirmed cases in the last week comprise over 10% of the total.