DOH: ECQ seen to prevent 15,000 daily new cases in NCR

The re-imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila is expected to prevent as many as 15,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said initial projections based on COVID-19 data last week showed that active cases in Metro Manila could still reach 30,000 despite the ECQ.

However, that projection is still lower than what the figures could be if restrictions were not tightened, Vergeire said.

“Sabi po doon sa projections, kapag nagkaroon tayo ng four weeks na diretso na heightened restrictions lang tayo ng GCQ (general community quarantine), we will have an average of 15,000 new cases per day in NCR alone,” she said in a briefing.

(According to projections, if we have four weeks straight of GCQ with heightened restrictions, we will have an average of 15,000 new cases per day in NCR alone.)

“‘Pag ginawa po natin ‘yung one week of GCQ with heightened restrictions plus three weeks continuous ECQ, we can be able to control ito pong pagtaas ng kaso to just 758 cases per day in NCR,” she added.

(If we do one week of GCQ with heightened restrictions plus three weeks continuous ECQ, we can be able to control the increase in cases to just 758 cases per day in NCR.)

Vergeire also stressed that the projections may change as COVID-19 cases increase. She said authorities will update their projections every week.

Metro Manila will be under GCQ with heightened and additional restrictions from July 30 to August 5 and under ECQ from August 6 to 20 to curb the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The Philippines has logged over 1.6 million COVID-19 cases with 1.5 million recoveries and 28,093 deaths as of Monday afternoon.  —NB, GMA News