The Manila casino industry is going to have to wait at least two weeks, and probably a lot longer, before it has any hope of reopening. President Rodrigo Duterte, bending to spiking Covid-19 infections and rising calls from the public, has shifted the Metro Manila area from its General Community Quarantine (GCQ) to a Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), effectively shutting down most non-essential services once again.

As we covered last week, the President’s office had teased that if the Philippines crossed the 85,000 mark for total infections by the end of August, quarantine restrictions would have to be bolstered. The country then blew past that number, nearing 100,000 infections by the time of Duterte’s Sunday decision, and since passing it.

The decision was made with as much suspense as possible. After the country passed the magic 85 thousand number, it was not clear exactly what would be done about it, and a sudden declaration that over 38,000 patients had been declared recovered, with no testing to prove if they really had recovered, helped to confuse the public further.

This led to a wave of social media protests by the public, lead by nurses and doctors who have been treating Covid-19 patients since March. Those protests factored into the president’s decision, although he was apparently unhappy that he wasn’t told privately. Duterte said: