It has been six years since this happened.
On January 30, 2020, almost a month after an outbreak started in China, the Philippines logged its first case of what was then called as the novel coronavirus (nCOV), which eventually got the name Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The first case was a 38-year-old woman who was brought to the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila and had traveled to “ground zero” in Wuhan, China on January 21 and reported symptoms as early as January 25.
A few days later, on February 2, case #2 was reported—who passed away the day prior and was the first reported casulaty outside of China.
The entire month of February lasted with only three reported case in total.
But as March began, the already declared pandemic had already seen community transmission, with cases involving those without travel history outside the Philippines beginning to be recorded.
Thus, to contain the spread, on March 12, the community quarantine—eventually the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)—was declared in Metro Manila from March 15. Two days later, on March 17, it was effected throughout the entire Luzon mainland.
What was supposed to be a one-month lockdown lasted for more than a year, with gradual lowering of restrictions on select months or weeks in between.
