Metro Manila along with nine other areas in the Philippines will remain under the General Community Quarantine or GCQ in March.
President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to place Metro Manila, Apayao, Baguio City, Kailinga, Mountain Province, Batangas, Tacloban City, Iligan City, Davao City and Lanao del Sur under GCQ until March 31.
Malacanang said that the rest of the country will be under the modified general community quarantine or MGCQ.
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Duterte denied proposals to shift to less stricter Modified General Community Quarantine with the absence of a COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
“No vaccine roll-out, no MGCQ muna,” Duterte said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque previously said that the country is ready for a more relaxed quarantine status.
“I think we are ready. I can say that because after one year, we have managed to keep our infection rate manageable It is at a level that has not overwhelmed the healthcare system,” he told CNN Philippines.
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Duque lauded the local government units in controlling and managing the number of COVID-19 cases. There was also no surge observed during the holidays and even the controversial Feast of the Black Nazarene.
He also stressed that localized lockdowns, not sweeping community quarantines, are “the way to go.”
“You cannot discount the fact that you will have some spikes. Now we see that happening in Pasay, in Navotas, but I think the interventions of early detection, isolation, treatment, and re-integration strategies are very much in place,” Duque said. (TDT)
