The Philippine government is looking into possible easing of quarantine restrictions by April to further reopen the economy, Malacnang said on Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte, in a speech in Dumaguete City on Thursday, said he might reopen the economy in "just weeks" once millions of Filipinos have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"You all know that our (quarantine) classification is for one month. So, I think what we are looking at is if we can further reopen the economy comes the month of April, because now is middle of March," he said in a televised press briefing in Ilocos Norte.

Metro Manila and a few other areas have remained under general community quarantine, which prevents some sectors or industries to have partial operations. Other industries, such as cinemas and arcades, are not yet open.

The possibility of further reopening the economy comes amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.

But Roque said the people already know the virus and how to prevent it from spreading.

"Because the truth is, further imposition of a lockdown is more difficult for our people. What we are saying is, we are living the new normal. We're strengthening the minimum health standards," he said.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio Dizon, in the same briefing, said while the cases have been increasing, the level is still "manageable," particularly in Metro Manila.

He said isolation facilities in the National Capital Region are about 60 percent occupied while critical care utilization is "little below 60 percent."

"What is good here is a vast majority of the new cases are either mild or asymptomatic. Meaning, even if initially they were in the hospitals, after checking of their symptoms, they were referred in isolation facilities. That's why it's important that we are ready with sufficient isolation facilities in case we have spikes of cases like what we are seeing now," he explained.

As of March 12, the Department of Health reported 4,578 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total cases to 611,618. Deaths rose to 87 for a total of 12,694. Celerina Monte/DMS