Metro Manila mayors want to keep GCQ over the holidays, relaxing ‘maybe next year’ – Galvez

MANILA – Metro Manila mayors want the COVID-19 lockdown on the region’s 12 million residents to remain in effect during the holidays, an official leading the country’s response to the pandemic said Thursday.

Local CEOs are “very cautious” in downgrading the region’s current general community quarantine (GCQ) status, the third strictest of the 4 lockdown levels, said the chief implementation secretary of the National Task Force. against COVID-19, Carlito Gálvez Jr.

“His recommendation is, in case the restrictions are eased, maybe next year, after the holidays,” he told reporters.

(His recommendation is that in case there is a relaxation of the restriction, perhaps it should be done next year, after the holidays.)

President Rodrigo Duterte will address the public on November 30 and announce the quarantine classifications for December, his spokesman Harry Roque said at the same press conference.

Metro Manila, which accounts for about a third of the country’s gross domestic product, has been under GCQ since August, with stricter closures enforced in previous months as COVID-19 infections rose. Only certain companies can operate at full capacity in the GCQ areas.

The Philippines has tallied 422,915 coronavirus infections, as of Wednesday. The first wave of infections that has not stopped has prevented the economy from fully reopening.

The World Health Organization said on Monday that avoiding family gatherings would be “the safest bet” during Christmas, insisting that there is no zero-risk option for traditional holidays during the coronavirus pandemic.