MANILA, Sept 16 (Reuters): Restaurants, salons and other small businesses in the Philippine capital region reopened on Thursday after being shut for weeks, as the government shifts to localised lockdowns from wide-scale mobility controls in a bid to revive the pandemic-hit economy.
The targeted lockdown approach being piloted in Metro Manila, an urban sprawl of 16 cities and home to 13 million people, may be replicated in other parts of the country if it proves successful in boosting business activity while keeping the spread of coronavirus in check.