MANILA – Health secretary Francisco Duque III believes that extending the modified enhance community quarantine (MECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus for a week or two could help ease the burden on health care capacity.
“Tingin ko kailangan ipagpatuloy ang MECQ dahil nga ang health systems capacity natin, hindi masyadong nag-iimprove pa sa ngayon,” Duque told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo on Monday.
According to him, the average number of daily cases in the past two weeks in Metro Manila remains high although there are signs of a decrease in the number of cases in the region.
Meanwhile, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said it will be up to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to decide whether there will be an extended lockdown or not.
“The government will look into the analytics of the healthcare system of the NCR Plus and the country, and review the attack rate, hospital care utilization rate, and the economic health of the nation,” said Roque.
Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte will announce the country’s quarantine status during his scheduled “Talk to the People” on Wednesday evening.
The NCR Plus – composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna – is under MECQ until the end of the month./PN
