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Metro Manila will switch to the more lenient closure or modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) for November “it is not impossible,” Malacañang said Thursday.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. made the statement after Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez, who heads the Metro Manila City Council, said the transition to MGCQ could occur if the number of 2019 coronavirus cases (Covid -19) in the National Capital Region. (NCR) was upheld.
Meanwhile, NCR and several other areas will remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) until October 31.
“It is not impossible because we have really reduced it. But we are still in our compatriots in Metro Manila. We already know what to do: mask, wash, avoid (because cases here continue to decrease. But it is still up to the residents of Metro Manila. Everyone knows what to do: put on a mask, wash their hands and prevent the spread of the disease) ” said Roque during a virtual press conference.
Olivarez previously said that if the downward trend in the number of Covid-19 cases reaches 90 percent, President Rodrigo Duterte might be inclined to recommend a more lenient shutdown.
The OCTA research team from the University of the Philippines has noted that while the situation in Metro Manila is improving, the region has yet to achieve the 28-day case doubling time set by the pandemic task force as a prerequisite for moving to MGCQ.
“The national government should maintain GCQ status at NCR along with further enhancements to its testing, tracing and isolation programs not only to maintain the earnings of the last MECQ, but also to avoid a sudden surge in the coming months,” it read in the group’s recommendations. .
He also said that while the number of cases is declining across the country, it has not dropped below 3,000 cases a day in recent days.
Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Negros Occidental, and Rizal remain high-risk areas, but the number of new cases in these provinces is lower than the previous week.
Meanwhile, emerging Covid-19 hotspots include Baguio City, Iloilo City, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro and Nueva Vizcaya, while there is a downward trend in previously reported hotspots such as Agusan del Norte, Capiz, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Oriental Mindoro and South Cotabato.
There are 311,694 confirmed cases of Covid-19 nationwide as of Thursday, and more than half are from Metro Manila.
Total recoveries were 253,488 while the death toll was 5,504.
