Some 24 million people in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan will remain in ECQ or lockdown for one week from April 5. After which, authorities will decide whether to extend it again or downgrade it a notch to MECQ.

The general rule during an ECQ is to stay at home, for those going out for essentials, the rules have changed compared to the 2020 ECQ. Here are the guidelines that you need to know.

Who are the APORs?

Outside of the 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, people running food, medicine, and other essential errands can leave the house. Some localities have reinstated quarantine passes. During the curfew, only those who are allowed to work on-site, including delivery riders, are considered APORs.

Checkpoints are back. In case you pass through one during the curfew, you just need to show your company ID if you are an APOR, authorites said.

Which businesses are open?

These are the gudelines from the Department of Trade and Industry:

Full on-site capacity

• Public and private hospitals
• Health, emergency and frontline services, including those provided by dialysis
  centers, chemotherapy centers, and the like
• Manufacturers of medicines and vitamins, medical supplies, devices and
  equipment, including suppliers of input, packaging, and distribution
• Industries involved in agriculture, forestry, and fishery and their workers,
  including farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, fisherfolk, and agri-fishery
  stores, and such other components of the food value chain
• Logistics service providers
  • This covers delivery and courier services, cargo handling,
    warehousing, trucking, freight forwarding, port operations and shipping line
• Essential and priority construction projects, whether public or private, in
  accordance with the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Works and
  Highways
• Manufacturing related to food and other essential goods such as but not limited
  to soap and detergents, disinfectants, and personal hygiene products
• Companies that manufacture and/or supply equipment or products necessary
  to perform construction or maintenance works, such as cement and steel, or
  spare parts
• Essential retail trade and service establishments such as public markets,
  supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies or drug stores,
  laundry shops, water-refilling stations, hardware stores, and office supplies
  stores
• Food preparation establishments such as commissaries, restaurants, and
  eateries
  • Provided, that services shall be limited to take-out and delivery
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• Public and private financial service providers involved in the distribution of
  government grants and amelioration subsidies
• Business process outsourcing establishments (BPOs), and export-oriented
  businesses, including mining and quarrying activities.

Maximum 50% on-site capacity

• Media establishments and their total permanent staff complement, inclusive of
  reporters and other field employees.

With an on-site skeleton workforce:

• Dental, rehabilitation, optometry and other medical clinics: Provided, that there
  is strict observance of infection prevention and control protocols. D
  • Dental procedures shall be limited to emergency cases only and
    that the wearing of full Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) by dentists and
    attendants shall be mandatory. Provided finally, that home service therapy for
    Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) shall be allowed
• Veterinary clinics
• Banks, money transfer services, including pawnshops only insofar as
  performing money transfer functions, microfinance institutions, and credit
  cooperatives, including their armored vehicle services, if any
• Capital markets, including but not limited to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,
  Securities and Exchange Commission, Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippine
  Dealing and Exchange Corporation, Philippine Securities Settlement
  Corporation, and Philippine Depository and Trust Corporation; and health
  insurance providers
• Water supply and sanitation services and facilities, including waste disposal
  services, as well as property management and building utility services
• Energy and power companies, their third-party contractors and service
  providers, including employees involved in electric transmission and
  distribution, electric power plant and line maintenance, electricity market and
  retail suppliers, as well as those involved in the exploration, operations, trading
  and delivery of coal, oil, crude or petroleum and by-products (gasoline, diesel,
  liquefied petroleum gas, jet oil, kerosene, lubricants), including gasoline
  stations, refineries and depots or any kind of fuel used to produce electricity
• Telecommunications companies, internet service providers, cable television
  providers, including those who perform indirect services such as the technical, sales, and other support personnel, as well as the employees of their third-party contractors doing sales, installation, maintenance and repair works
• Airline and aircraft maintenance, pilots and crew, and employees of aviation schools for purposes of the pilot's recurrent training for flight proficiency and type rating using simulator facilities; and ship captains and crew, including shipyard operations and repair
• Funeral and embalming services
• Pastors, priests, rabbis, imams or such other religious ministers and their assistants whose movement shall be related to the conduct of religious services performed through online video recording and transmission, and necrological or funeral rites.
  • Immediate family members of the deceased who died of causes other than COVID-19 shall be allowed to move from their residences to attend the wake or interment of the deceased upon satisfactory proof of their relationship with the latter, fully complying with the prescribed minimum public health standards for the duration of the activity
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• Security personnel licensed by the Philippine National Police - Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies
• Printing establishments authorized by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and other government agencies to print accountable forms and other security documents
• Establishments engaged in repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment, including those engaged in the repair of computers and household fixtures and equipment
• Real estate activities limited to leasing only.

Which forms of transportation are allowed?

These are the guidelines from the Department of Transportation:

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

• Domestic flights (allowed for APOR)
• International flights (allowed, inbound passenger capacity at NAIA limited to 1,500)
• Train (allowed for APOR, 20-30% capacity)
• Bus (allowed for APOR, 50% capacity, no standing)
• Jeepney (allowed for APOR, 50% capacity or one seat apart, one passenger in front row, no standing)
• UV Express (allowed for APOR, 50% capacity or two per row, one passenger ind river row)
• Taxi (allowed for APOR, two per row, one passenger in driver's row)
• Grab and TNVS (allowed for APOR, two per row, one passenger in driver's row, no multiple booking)
• Tricycle (allowed for APOR, one passenger in sidecar, must be seated away from driver)
• Provincial buses (allowed for APOR, point to point only, 50% capacity)

Is outdoor exercise allowed?

Yes, as long as people stay within their barangays or in the immediate vicinity of their condominium buildings. The MMDA also recommends exercising within the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. window.

Is e-commerce allowed?

Yes, just anticipate some delays, according to online shopping platforms.

Is motorcycle backriding allowed?

Yes, as long as it's for essential cargo and bringing workers to their offices.