President Duterte is expected to address the nation Monday night and may announce the country’s new quarantine classification for October based on two additional health indicators, Malacañang said.

The varying community quarantine classifications in Metro Manila and other parts of the country will end on Sept. 30 unless modified by the President.

"Mayroon po kasing address sa taumbayan ang ating Pangulo mamayang gabi, so, sana po iyong classification eh mapasama na nga sa kaniyang address. (The President will deliver an address to the nation tonight and hopefully the new classification will be included in his address)," Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said during a televised press briefing Monday.

Roque also bared that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has included two new health factors, namely the two week-growth rate and the daily attack rate of coronavirus cases, in determining the risk classification of an area.

According to Roque, the government has decided to move away from the case doubling rate, or the number of days required for the number of cases to double.

Other existing factors taken into consideration by the IATF for an area's quarantine level are the critical care utilization rate as well as social, economic and security indicators. 

"As far as critical care capacity is concerned, we are on moderate risk. As far as case doubling rate is concerned, malayo pa ang tatahakin (we still have a long way to go). Pero nagbago na po ang basis ng classification natin ngayon, it will be on the basis of two-week growth rate,” Roque said when asked about the chances of Metro Manila shifting to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) from general community quarantine (GCQ).

Health Secretary Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire explained that the growth rate refers to the number of coronavirus cases of a particular area for the past two weeks.  The attack rate, on the other hand, monitors any daily increase or decrease in COVID cases in a certain area or population.

"This is more sensitive, kasi nakikita natin iyong true picture of the community,” Vergeire said during the same press briefing.

Vergeire noted that the case doubling and mortality doubling rates will still be used to monitor the country's overall health trend.

Prior to the President’s address, the task force is expected to hold a meeting Monday to finalize the recommendation on the quarantine classification of the different parts of the country. Any appeal from local government units like Iloilo City will also be tackled in the IATF meeting.

Iloilo City has reverted to the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 due to the surge in coronavirus cases.  Bacolod City and Lanao del Sur have also been placed under MECQ until the end of the month.

Metro Manila mayors have reportedly recommended to extend the GCQ status in the capital region for the month of October. Metro Manila has remained under GCQ since last June 1 except for the two-week modified enhanced community quarantine in early August following the timeout plea of the medical community.

Other areas under GCQ are Bulacan, Batangas and Tacloban City until the end of the month.  The rest of the country stayed on the less restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).