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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 28) – Local CEOs of the National Capital Region have recommended extending the community’s general quarantine status in Metro Manila throughout October, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said on Monday.
The 17 mayors of Metro Manila met with various members of the Interagency Task Force on Sunday to present their recommendation for the next round of announcements of the quarantine status. He conveyed that it was the “consensus” for the capital region to be placed back under GCQ. He said it is no longer a question of choosing between health or economics during the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather the challenge is to find the perfect balance on how to help companies recover from what he called the “economic crisis” while protecting the public the highly contagious virus that has infected more than 300,000 Filipinos.
“Now it is the health and the economy. So now it is preparing to open additional operational capabilities of the companies. Even if we maintain the GCQ status, it is possible to continue to slowly increase the operational capacity, that is, the number of people that can function. , the number of customers that establishments can allow in. So these are now preparing, “he told CNN Philippines.
Metro Manila has been under GCQ since June 1, excluding the two-week return to a more stringent modified enhanced community quarantine in the first half of August. Under GCQ, public transportation can operate at reduced capacity and most industries can open.
The mayor said the GCQ should be expanded to sustain the declining number of new COVID-19 cases in the region. This is the same position as the University of the Philippines researchers, who noted that Metro Manila showed a decrease of more than 50 percent in its daily cases compared to five weeks ago. They were quick to emphasize that the country may lose its profits with a “premature” easing of the modified GCQ.
“We would be careful not to move to MGCQ yet because we are not fully cured yet,” UP OCTA member Professor Guido David told CNN Philippines on September 26.
The recommendation of the mayors of Metro Manila will go through the IATF. They will make the proposal to President Rodrigo Duterte, who is set to announce his final decision on the fate of the region this week.
The Department of Health has confirmed 304,226 COVID-19 cases in the country, including 252,510 recoveries and 5,344 deaths.
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