MANILA - The lockdown of hundreds of thousands of residents in Cebu City is extended until May 15 to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Edgardo Labella said Thursday.

Local officials extended the lockdown after some 123 detainees at the city jail and around 136 residents in the densely populated Sitio Zapatera raised the city's total COVID-19 cases to 312 as of Wednesday night, he said.

"Kung medyo gumanda ang takbo (if the situation gets better), mag-flatten o mag-plateau, then maybe we can lift [the lockdown] before May 15," Labella told DZMM.

Cebu City had some 922,000 residents in 2015, according to the Population Commission.

Aside from the metropolis, some 50 million people in Luzon are also on quarantine until April 30, which President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday would decide whether or not to extend.

The Philippines as of Wednesday confirmed 6,710 cases of COVID-19, including 446 deaths and 693 patients who recovered.

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