Duque favors extended MECQ

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is in favor of extending modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for another week or two to further decrease the number of COVID-19 cases.

“Tingin ko kailangan ipagpatuloy ang MECQ for another week or two dahil nga ang health systems capacity natin, hindi masyadong nag-iimprove pa sa ngayon,” Duque said in a radio interview.

(I think MECQ should be extended for another week or two because our health systems capacity is yet to significantly improve.)

“Iyong ibang siyudad [sa Metro Manila], critical pa ang risk classification ng kanilang ICU (intensive care unit),” he added.

(The COVID-19 ICU capacity of hospitals in some cities in Metro Manila is still at a critical level.)

MECQ prohibits non-essential trips and partially shuts down non-essential businesses and services.

Duque, in his capacity as Health chief, chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) which is the policy-making body of the government’s COVID-19 response.

Duque said the IATF will be meeting Monday to discuss whether the MECQ protocol—which is in effect until April 30—will be extended or otherwise.

“There will be a new recommendation from the sub-technical working group on data analytics. What we are looking at is the number of cases per 100,000 population,” he added.

The Philippines has 77,075 active COVID-19 cases as of this posting. Of this number, 8,162 new COVID-19 cases were added on April 25.—AOL, GMA News