Duterte to decide on fate of ECQ today —Palace

President Rodrigo Duterte will decide on Monday whether to extend anew or ease confinement measures in Metro Manila and other areas of the country with a high number of COVID-19 cases. 

Duterte will be meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases at 5 p.m. to discuss the body’s recommendation on the fate of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), his spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised briefing. 

The ECQ was previously extended until May 15 in Metro Manila, Central Luzon (except Aurora), CALABARZON, Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Bacolod City, Iloilo province, Iloilo City, Cebu City, Cebu province, Zamboanga City and Davao City.

The rest of the country has been placed under the less strict general community quarantine.

Last Saturday, Metro Manila mayors said they would recommend to the IATF three scenarios after the second extension of the ECQ ends on May 15.

The first recommendation is the extension of the ECQ for up to two weeks, or until the end of May.

The second recommendation is for the government to move Metro Manila from ECQ to a general community quarantine (GCQ) while the third option is a modified combination of an ECQ and a GCQ.

Roque earlier said the COVID-19 transmission rate and the capacity of the healthcare system will aid the government in deciding whether to ease restrictions in some areas in Metro Manila, where the majority of the infections in the country were recorded. —KG, GMA News