IATF sets meeting to discuss fate of community quarantine after June 15

Top government officials will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether to further ease restrictions or reimpose lifted quarantine measures starting June 16.

In a televised briefing on Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ decision will be guided by the data on the doubling time of cases and critical care capacity.

“We have to look at the data of Metro Manila and Cebu City very carefully and bukas po ang pagpupulong ng IATF on what will happen on June 16,” he said.

“If the trend continues, either magpapatuloy po siguro ang GCQ or baka babalik sa modified ECQ [enhanced community quarantine], ganoon lang po ‘yun because all classifications are flexible depending on the data.”

The IATF’s decision is subject to the final approval by President Rodrigo Duterte. The President will meet with the task force on Thursday in Davao City.

Duterte earlier placed the Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions I (except Pangasinan), IV-B, V, VI, VIII, IX (except Zamboanga City), X, XI (except Davao City) and XII, CARAGA, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao under modified general community quarantine from June 1 to 15.

The rest of the country, including Metro Manila, is under general community quarantine.

As of Monday, the Philippines had 22,474 COVID-19 cases, with 1,011 deaths and 4,637 recoveries. — RSJ, GMA News