Quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila may be relaxed soon if the downward trend in Covid-19 cases continues.
Number of Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila on the decline
QUARANTINE restrictions in Metro Manila could be relaxed by November if the current downward trend in Covid-19 cases continues and residents follow health measures, according to Metro Manila Council Chair Edwin Olivarez.
Metro Manila, composed of 16 cities and one municipality, remains under general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of October.
It has the highest number of Covid-19 cases and has been under some form of quarantine since midMarch to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
Olivarez, who is also mayor of Paranaque City, noted on Wednesday that the number of cases had gone down and the recovery rate was over 90% in some parts of the metropolis.
He gave no figures showing the decline in the number of infections and recoveries.
If this continues and people follow health rules, Metro Manila may be placed under the more relaxed modified GCQ by November if the President allows it, he said.
“Our strategy is to continue to implement health protocols.
“Our (local governments) continue to implement the wearing of face shields and face masks, social distancing and improvement of critical care,” he said in a news briefing.
Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Monday that the average number of new cases per week nationwide went down to under half – from 3,000 to 1,000-1,200.
No average weekly figures for Metro Manila were immediately available from the health department.
Local officials were working to improve hospitals and services so that medical workers would not be overwhelmed, Olivarez said.
In the meantime, Metro Manila needed to remain under GCQ despite the downward trend in cases, Olivarez said.
“Local governments are concerned that if we relax restrictions or if we increase the operational capacity of businesses, of public utility vehicles, we might have a spike in cases.
“So the Metro Manila Council thinks we need another 30 days for GCQ,” he said. The lockdown has shrunk the economy and led to a rise in hunger and joblessness.
Officials and business leaders are trying to find ways to revive commerce without compromising people’s health.
Olivarez said he and the other mayors would be discussing the possibility of lifting the curfew in Metro Manila in their next meeting “so that we could reopen the econo