OFELIA ABO has not left home for 11 months. In the mornings the six-year-old attends school online. The rest of the time she eats lots of snacks, plays Uno with her mother or, when it isn't raining, runs around on the roof of her building. She doesn't mind: "I can play all day." Then again, she admits, "I sometimes get bored." If she were allowed, she would like to go to a mall or the beach. Ofelia and the 32m other Filipinos under the age of 15 (a third of the population) are "required to remain in their residences at all times" as part of the government's efforts to curb the spread of covid-19. Even as quarantine restrictions have been loosened for working-age adults, they have remained in place for the youngest and oldest members of society, who are deemed most vulnerable. "She tells me how much she wants to go out," says Ofelia's mother, Iris, who asked that she and her daughter not be identified by their real names. All the same, Iris considers the rules "OK and reasonable", since the disease remains such a risk. Known new infections, having peaked at more than 4,000 a day in August, are still running at around 1,600 a day, despite limited testing.
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