Restrictions successful in reducing new COVID-19 cases –MMDA's Abalos

Current quarantine restrictions have successfully reduced the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the National Capital Region, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Council (MMDA).

MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos said that based on the available data, cases have started to fall in several cities across Metro Manila which is currently under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until the end of the month.

Data from the local government units (LGUs) show a decline in the number of cases being reported at Manila with 3,959 on April 17 versus 4,083 on April 15; Muntinlupa with 1,590 versus 1,692; and Pasay with 464 versus 480.

The same was reported in San Juan where new cases have ranged from 100 to 150 a day but have stabilized at the 1,000 level, as well as in Navotas where new cases have dropped to 100 from the earlier 200.

"Just because you're going to treat NCR as a region, cases really increased but if you're going to look at it by the city, there are some cities that are really going down," Abalos said in a mix of English and Filipino in  Dano Tingcungco's Sunday "24 Oras Weekend" report.

Before the shift to the MECQ, the NCR Plus bubble -- Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan -- was under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from March 29 to April 11.

"If we're going back to another ECQ, you could just imagine the cost of this not only now, so many have closed and a lot of our fellow Filipinos have no work," said Abalos, who is also part of the Metro Manila Council.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier said that the two-week reimposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble would result in P30 billion in losses in households' income, and would shave 0.8 percentage points from the GDP.

The Philippines on Sunday, April 18, reported 10,098 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to bring the total to 936,133. This includes 141,089 active cases; 779,084 recoveries; and 15,960 deaths. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News