Metro Manila ‘ready’ for GCQ shift — Palace

Metro Manila is “ready” for further easing of restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19, Malacañang said Thursday.

In a televised briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque raised the possibility that the National Capital Region will shift from modified enhanced community quarantine to general community quarantine by June 1.

“NCR is ready from the data that we have seen but that really depends on the cooperation of everyone,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Tony Leachon, Special Adviser to the National Task Force COVID-19, said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has recommended that Metro Manila and Davao City be placed under general community quarantine from June 1 to 15.

Both areas are under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) at present.

Cebu City, meanwhile, will remain under MECQ, Leachon told Dobol B sa News TV in an interview on Thursday.

In a television interview, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año confirmed the IATF’s recommendation but clarified that this could still be changed as some local chief executives may appeal what is stated in the recommendation.

“‘Yan ay maaari pang magbago kasi ipinadala natin sa mga LGUs ang recommendation natin at mayroon pa silang kaukulang panahon para mag-appeal kung mayroon silang gustong ipabago at idedepensa nila 'yung kanilang position,” Año told CNN-Philippines.

Still, Roque asked the public to just wait for the chief executive’s announcement later Thursday on the matter.

“I don’t want to steal the thunder from the President,” Roque said.

“Kahit anong anunsyo ng Presidente mamayang gabi, pupuwede po tayong bumalik sa ECQ muli kung ang datos ay magpapakita na napakabilis na naman ng doubling rate.”

Metro Manila mayors had pushed for the shift to GCQ, citing the need to revitalize the region’s economy that has been severely affected by restrictions on businesses.

However, researchers from the University of the Philippines urged the national government to continue the modified ECQ in the NCR—the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country—and consider the same in other high-risk areas.

The UP researchers concluded that there was almost no change in the week-to-week number of new COVID-19 cases in the NCR during the first 10 days of the implementation of MECQ, or from May 16 to 25, based on data from the Department of Health.

They also said that the average number of new COVID-19 cases in NCR during that period was greater than five per day per million of population.

Researchers from the University of Santo Tomas, meanwhile, projected that the total number of cases in Metro Manila “will continue to increase gradually and will not plateau for many months, though the forecasted number of active cases will also be decreasing.” — RSJ, GMA News