MANILA, Philippines (Update 2: 11:01 a.m.) — The enhanced community quarantine in Luzon is extended until April 30, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Tuesday.

In a late night address Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte’s late night address where he said the government is “inclined to extend the lockdown up to April 30.”

Nograles, in a virtual briefing Tuesday morning, said that the president accepted the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ recommendation to extend the ECQ in Luzon.

“Our [IATF’s] recommendation to President Duterte is accepted by the President, and he announced it last night,” Nograles said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“We verified it and the answer was the ECQ is hereby extended until 11:59 p.m. until April 30,” he added.

Nograles said the IATF passed two resolutions on Monday night. In Resolution No. 20, the IATF formally recommended “the extension of the implementation of the [ECQ] in the entirety of Luzon up to April 30, 2020” to the Office of the President.

He added that the resolution noted that exemptions previously granted by the IATF and the Office of the President shall continue in the duration of the extended enhanced community quarantine.

“Such extension of the ECQ shall be without prejudice to the discretion of the president to relax that implementation of the ECQ in some local jurisdictions or the ranting of exemptions in favor of certain sectors such as public health considerations and food security may warrant,” Nograles also said.

IATF recommendation

Nograles explained that experts said they will need until mid-April to really study the effect of the ECQ, which started on March 15.

This prompted the IATF to recommend and extension of the lockdown until April 30.

The extended lockdown will also help increase the health capacity of the country.

“When we say increasing health capacity, it included testing. Experts say that to manage COVID-10 effectively, we need to increase the country’s testing capacity that we may reach 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day,” he explained.

He also said that they need to have a 24-hour turnaround time for the release of COVID-19 test results.

On March 25, the health department admitted that mass testing is not an option in the country due to limited testing kits and laboratory health capacity.

Peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Action Plan on COVID-19, said that the government is eyeing mass testing for possible COVID-1 infections and those who had close contact with patients on April 14.

Duterte public address

Duterte on Monday night said that the government is “inclined to extend the lockdown up to April 30.”

The president also admitted that the government is getting "desperate" as it is under pressure to spend money even if it is not generating enough revenues due to slower economic activity.

"The P100 billion for one month or P270 billion for two months as estimated earlier is not enough. I'm calling on the secretary of finance to generate (revenues). Magnakaw ka, manghiram ka magproduce ka ng pera. Pag naubos na ito, di ko malaman (You steal, you borrow, produce money. If it runs out, I don't know)," Duterte said.

"We are finding ways to adjust the budget... We will prioritize the people, the stomach. If they have nothing to eat, a human being can become violent," the president said. — Kristine Joy Patag with reports from The STAR/Alexis Romero