MANILA – After two weeks of being under the enhance community quarantine (ECQ), Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite will be placed under modified enhance community quarantine (MECQ) for the rest of the month.
This was after President Rodrigo Duterte approved on Sunday the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ recommendation for the quarantine shift of the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus.
The delay in the announcement according to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, was because Duterte “weighed the pros and cons regarding the quarantine classification of the National Capital Region Plus Area.”
Prior to that, OCTA Research Group urged for the extension of the strictest lockdown measure to reduce the surge in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
During the second week of ECQ, the group said the reproduction number in Metro Manila was down to 1.23 percent. However, the average daily number of new cases was still high at 5,000 a day.
“OCTA believes that opening up NCR Plus prematurely would be a significant risk as it could accelerate the surge again. However, if ECQ extension cannot be considered for socioeconomic reasons, we are suggesting a minimum of two weeks of modified ECQ,” it said.
Quirino province, Santiago City, and Abra are also under MECQ for the month of April, while Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Batangas, Tacloban City, Iligan City, Davao City, Lanao del Sur, and Quezon will be under general community quarantine.
The rest of the country, including Western Visayas, will remain under modified general community quarantine./PN
