Coronavirus: Metro Manila becomes a ghost town under Philippines government lockdown

As the Philippines confronts an unprecedented health crisis in the form of the coronavirus outbreak, with public confusion heightened by contradictory orders from authorities, an unfamiliar hush had by Sunday fallen over its capital. In Metro Manila, traffic was magically cleared from the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue ring road, known as Edsa, normally choked by infamous gridlock. The sounds of blaring music and honking cars, the rumble and screech of passenger buses revving up in stops and…