12 Orlino and Hapal (4) Republic Act No. 11494 (“Bayanihan to Recover as One Act of 2020”), signed by President Duterte on September 11, 2020, represented the second phase of the government’s social amelioration program, including the following: • Provision of a stimulus package of Php 165 billion (Php 140 billion in regular appropriation and Php 25 billion as standby funding) • Provision of loans for sectors like micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises, transport, tourism, and agriculture • Allocation of allowances to students in private and public schools at all levels whose families were adversely affected by work stoppage due to lockdowns • Provision of the retroactive payment of Php 100,000 hazard duty pay for health workers, employment of existing emergency health workers, and risk allowances for public and private healthcare workers attending to COVID-19 patients, among others. Major responses Community quarantine Various iterations of community quarantine measures were imposed in the Philippines in order to suppress the spread of the virus by limiting mobility. This began in March 2020 when the entire Luzon island was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), which was supposed to end by April 12, 2020 but was extended for another month. The ECQ in Metro Manila was lifted and downgraded to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from May 16 to 30, 2020. Under MECQ, additional businesses were able to operate and religious gatherings were allowed albeit in limited capacity. However, travel and public transportation remained restricted. On June 1, 2020, Metro Manila transitioned from MECQ to the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in which at least 50 percent of nonessential businesses were able to resume operations. Due to the observed acceleration of the virus since the imposition of the GCQ, and with pleas from healthcare workers, Metro Manila and adjacent provinces were ordered to revert to the MECQ from August 4 to 18. In September, this was eased to GCQ until the end of October. Scale-up of testing, contact tracing, and critical health care capacity As of October 21, 2020, the DOH reports that 4.2 million individuals or about 1.1 percent of the population have been tested. An average of 19,309 tests were conducted per day since March 18, 2020. The DOH also added that the efforts in the expansion of testing capacities have complemented its enhanced surveillance strategies, particularly active case finding. The number of tests conducted daily was a