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MANILA, Philippines The Philippine president has eased a coronavirus lockdown in the bustling capital and adjacent provinces to fight economic recession and hunger but still barred public gatherings this month, when many Roman Catholic summer religious festivals are held.
After an alarming surge in infections that started in March started to ease, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in televised remarks Thursday night that Metropolitan Manila and four nearby provinces, a region of more than 25 million people, would be placed under a so-called “general community quarantine,” which allows essential businesses and tourist destinations to expand operations, in the last half of the month. But he said religious fiestas in Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation would remain prohibited.
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A Kashmiri man along with his children walks on a deserted road, as Kashmiris marked Eid during lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, May 13, 2021.
Dar Yasin - staff, AP
A man wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks in the rain past a banner of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Thursday, May 13, 2021, in Tokyo. The Japanese capital confirmed more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
Eugene Hoshiko - staff, AP
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19 on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, on Capitol Hill, in Washington.
Emerson Frost, 13, has spent much of the last year stuck at home, missing her friends. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could change all of that, the Marietta, Georgia, teen says.
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