(Bloomberg) -- Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte would not place the whole nation under the loosest movement restrictions without the roll out of coronavirus vaccines, his spokesman Harry Roque said.

While reopening the economy is important, Duterte “gives higher premium to public health and safety,” Roque said in a statement Monday. The president wants the vaccination program to start soon to ease current mobility curbs, he said.

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Metro Manila, the nation’s capital region that accounts for about a third of the economy, is currently placed under second loosest restrictions. The nation recorded its highest daily infections since November on Monday.

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