The Philippine government has taken drastic action. In response to the threat of a coronavirus epidemic outbreak, it has placed the country's capital under a de facto lockdown or, as President Rodrigo Duterte euphemistically said, "enhanced community quarantine."
Metro Manila, home to more than 12 million and the most densely populated urban center on earth, will face unprecedented restrictions on movement of its residents from now at least until April 12. The Philippines is the first country in the region to have placed its administrative and commercial capital under collective quarantine.
