Año: Shift to MGCQ after June 15? It’s 50-50

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INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año yesterday said there is a 50-50 chance that Metro Manila will transition to the more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) after June 15, noting the increased capacity of hospitals to attend to COVID-19 cases.

Año said the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Mitigation of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), of which he is a member, will meet today, Wednesday, to discuss the possible downgrade of the National Capital Region (NCR) from the current general community quarantine (GCQ) to MGCQ.

“There is the possibility (that NCR will transition to MGCQ) but we have to see the data first. There will be a presentation (today) on data analytics,” Año told a phone interview.

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He added: “Although there is increase in the number (of COVID-19 cases), it’s manageable, meaning within the limit, because our hospitals are not in -occupied, our death is on the average of eight to 13 per day only.”

On the percentage NCR will transition to MGCQ, Año said: “To me, it’s 50-50. 50 percent, there is the possibility. There is also the 50-50 possibility that NCR will remain under GCQ.

“In Metro Manila and Cebu and Davao (where COVID-19 cases continue to rise), it’s hard to make a decision. We really need data, we need to see the presentation of the experts. We don’t want to make a mistake by easing quarantine protocols and then it would lead to another outbreak,” he said.

He said the task force is going to be very careful before recommending to President Duterte the transition of NCR to MCGQ because “if we go to MGCQ, we are going to open everything: transportation, businesses, you will open them although at 75 percent workforce. Many businesses will re-open so this requires a careful study.

“The President wants to make a decision early so by tomorrow, if the IATF would be able to make a resolution or recommendation, we will submit it immediately to the President,” Año added.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government is carefully studying the situation in Metro Manila and Cebu City to determine if they could be downgraded to MGCQ status, continue to be under MGCQ, or worse, revert back to a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) by June 16.

Roque said the decision and recommendations of the IATF will depend on data on the case-doubling rate and critical care capacity in the two areas, among others.

He acknowledged a report of the Department of Health that showed an increase of about 300 confirmed cases in Metro Manila, and the request of Cebu to place them under MGCQ.

“We have to look at the data of Metro Manila and Cebu City very carefully and the IATF will meet tomorrow on what will happen on June 16. If the trend continues, either they would remain under GCQ or they might return to Modified ECQ,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.

Roque said the IATF would have a meeting on Wednesday and again with President Duterte in Davao on Thursday.

Placed under GCQ from June 1 to 15 are the NCR, Cagayan Valley (Region 2); Central Luzon (Region 3); Calabarzon (Region 4-A); Central Visayas (Region 7); Pangasinan province; and the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, Cebu and Mandaue while the rest of the country is under the MGCQ.

While under GCQ, Metro Manila and Cebu City had been asked to strictly monitor their health system performance capacity and compliance with the surveillance, isolation and treatment protocols.

EPICENTER SHIFT?

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it is closely monitoring if the Central Visayas region has overtaken Metro Manila as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a virtual press conference, cited the recent rise in the number of newly-reported cases in the region, which is already second in the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases.

She said they have already tasked the DOH – Epidemiology Bureau (EB) to evaluate the trend of cases in Central Visayas. “We directed our Epidemiology Bureau to plot the cases in Region 7 so we can see the real trend in that area. We need to be sure and certain in our interpretation. We have to be cautious,” she said.

Among the factors they will look into, she explained, is the pro-activity of local governments in the region in their testing and contact tracing efforts.

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As of June 8, Central Visayas has a total of 3,604 confirmed COVID-19 cases. It comes at second to the 12,243 COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region.

AIRPORTS

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the two major airports in Mindanao are now ready to resume services for more enhanced air connectivity throughout the country.

Tugade said the completion of various development projects at the Zamboanga International Airport in Zamboanga City and at the Jolo Airport in the province of Sulu will open different good opportunities to all the people of Mindanao.

CASINO

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) said it is hoping to resume the operations this month of its casinos, which were among the many industries shuttered when Metro Manila was placed under strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), to “stem the bleeding” in the industry and to generate much-needed government revenues.

Pagcor chair and chief executive officer Andrea Domingo said during the ICE Asia Digital event last Monday that while it is unlikely to be 100 percent operational, she hopes that the industry will reopen on a “graduated basis.”

“We hope at the beginning of this month… we would be able to resume operations on a graduated basis, but everything changes,” Domingo said in the virtual event, adding: “We would have been doing well but then COVID-19 came, and somehow we had to take three steps back, but we’re going to get on with it in June, or at the very latest, in July.”

Domingo said she hopes to maintain the employment of the 132,000 direct hires of the gaming industry.

It was earlier reported that Okada Manila will have to let go of more than 1,000 of its workforce. — With Jocelyn Montemayor, Gerard Naval, Noel Talacay and Angela Celis

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