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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Metro Manila 'unlikely' to revert back to MECQ - DILG official

Metro Manila 'unlikely' to revert back to MECQ - DILG official

Published Mar 26, 2021 10:39 am

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said it is “unlikely” for the National Capital Region (NCR) to revert back to the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).

A vendor walks past a neighborhood under strict quarantine measures in Pasay City on March 16, 2021, as the number of new daily cases of COVID-19 coronavirus has surged to the highest level in seven months. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)

Densing made the statement after the OCTA Research Group recommended that the NCR, and other areas in the country be placed under either a “hard general community quarantine GCQ” or “soft MECQ” to further reduce the reproduction rate of COVID-19 in the country.

“Kung titingnan natin yung policy directive nung mga nakaraang IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) meeting, mukhang malabong bumalik tayo sa MECQ (IF we look at the policy directive in the past IATF meetings, I think it’s unlikely that we will go back to MECQ),” Densing told GMA News in an interview Friday (March 26).

The DILG official said the matter was also not brought up during the IATF’s meeting yesterday (March 25).

“Ang important nagbabalanse po tayo sa ating paghihigpit, at the same time, kailangan tuloy tuloy pa rin ang daloy ng ating ekonomiya (What is important is that we are able to balance our restrictions at the same time, we have to keep our economy going),” he added.

The reproduction number in Metro Manila has gone down to 1.91 on Thursday from 1.99 on Wednesday, based on a report by OCTA Research.

OCTA, however, said it is still “too early to tell” if the drop in the reproduction rate is the “beginning of a hoped-for downward trend.”

The expert also said the NCR remains to be at “high risk” with a daily attack rate of 27.2 per 100,000.

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