The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has relaxed some quarantine restrictions, such as adjusting the age of the people who could go out, as part of further opening up the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Under IATF Resolution No. 79, which that task force approved on Thursday, October 15, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the "age-based stay-at-home restrictions" has been adjusted.

"Persons from 15 to 65 years of age are now allowed to go out," he said in a statement.

But he said the local government units may impose a higher age limit for minors, depending on the COVID-19 situation in their respective jurisdictions.

Prior to the new resolution, the age-based stay-at-home restrictions covered below 21 years old and those 60 years old and above, including those with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risk, and pregnant women, including any person who resides with the aforementioned, shall be required to remain in their residences at all times, except when indispensable under the circumstances for obtaining essential goods and services, or for work in industries and offices or such other activities permitted by the task force.

Roque said the IATF also permits interzonal movement of persons not authorized outside of residences (non-APOR) between areas placed under general community quarantine or modified general community quarantine for any purpose, subject to the reasonable regulations imposed by the LGU concerned, or in the case of Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan, subject to those imposed by the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force.

"The same applies with the intrazonal movement of non-APORs across areas placed under GCQ or MGCQ and the interzonal movement of non-APORs between areas placed under MGCQ and the New Normal," he said.

The IATF also made more specific definitions of interzonal movement and intrazonal movement of the people.

Based on the resolution, interzonal movement is the movement of people, goods and services between provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities under different community quarantine classification. Intrazonal movement, on the other hand, refers to the movement of people, goods and services between provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities under the same community quarantine classification, without transiting through an area placed under a different classification.

"Related to Interzonal and Intrazonal Movement, the IATF considered health and emergency frontline services personnel, government officials and government frontline personnel, duly-authorized humanitarian assistance actors, persons travelling for medical or humanitarian reasons, persons going to the airport for travel abroad, and anyone crossing zones for work or business permitted in the zone of destination and going back home as Authorized Persons Outside Their Residences," Roque said.

He also said that the IATF included in the list of APOR the returning or repatriated overseas Filipino workers and overseas Filipinos returning to their places of residence and other persons transported through the efforts of the national government upon observance of the necessary quarantine protocols with the concurrence of the receiving LGUs. Celerina Monte/DMS