INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday said improving health conditions in several cities in Metro Manila can be used as discussion points when policymakers decide on the quarantine status of the National Capital Region, which remains under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until May 15.
Año hinted the cities of San Juan and Valenzuela are among those that would likely already transition to general community quarantine (GCQ) status, citing relatively low COVID-19 infections in the two areas.
In its website, the Department of Health said San Juan registered 243 COVID-19 cases with 32 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon. Valenzuela had 108 cases with seven deaths as of Tuesday afternoon.
“There are areas already in Metro Manila that are actually improving like San Juan (and) Valenzuela, but Quezon City is still a high-risk area with over 1,000 positives,” said Año. Records show that as of May 6, Quezon City has 1,457 positive cases with 118 deaths.
“Some cities in Metro Manila may go to GCQ… Maybe after May 15, we can lift some ECQ in other areas and go to modified ECQ and engage in targeted or focused area interventions… but we still have eight days to go so we’ll wait for the data analytics,” he said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque shared Año’s optimism as he noted that the easing of the number of COVID-19 cases and improvement in critical care capacity of an area are among the factors considered in easing quarantine status.
Año reiterated the ECQ is “really hurting our economy and as soon as the numbers are really going down, then we can lift some restrictions and we can go to the new normal. Well, the numbers are promising, and I hope that it will continue.”
Año was referring to the “flattening of the curve” of COVID-19 cases, increase of testing centers throughout the country, and improvement of healthcare facilities.
Aside from Metro Manila, other jurisdictions still under ECQ are Central Luzon region (except Aurora); the Calabarzon region; the provinces of Pangasinan, Benguet, Iloilo, Cebu, and Albay; and the cities of Baguio, Zamboanga, Bacolod, and Davao.
Año said the decision on the areas that will remain under ECQ may be announced on either May 10 or 11.
STILL NOT CERTAIN
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III cautioned that despite the flattening of the COVID-19 curve, the lifting of the ECQ is not yet a certainty.
Stressing that a lot can still happen between now and May 15, Duque said: “It’s very difficult to make any predictions as of now because we still have several days.”
He issued the statement on Wednesday after IATF-EID data analytics group member Dr. John Wong said the country is already seeing the flattening of the COVID-19 curve.
This after the doubling time of the cases and mortalities have been prolonged to 4.6 and 5.7 days, respectively.
The health chief said they can just hope that the improvement in the situation will already be maintained in the coming days.
“Hopefully, let’s cross our fingers, that there are no local surges that will happen,” said Duque. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
