METRO Manila, the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in the country, is ready to be placed under a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ), Malacañang said on Thursday.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. made the statement after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte that Metro Manila be shifted from a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) into a GCQ from June 1 to June 15.