AMID SPIKE IN NCR CASES, NO PLAN TO PUT IT UNDER ECQ
DESPITE the uptick in Covid-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that there is no plan yet to place the metropolis under strict quarantine measures.
Vergeire said a virtual meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon involving the Metro Manila mayors, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, officials from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and some health experts, to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the NCR.
“They were reminded of the strict compliance to the minimum public health standards,”vergeire said, adding that the local executives should not only look at the variants as the problem but the observance as well of the proper wearing of face mask, face shield, frequent handwashing, and physical distancing.
On Wednesday, the OCTA Research Team warned that if the trend continues, the NCR could record 2,200 cases per day by the end of March 2021, at which time the country is projected to have 665,000 Covid-19 cases and 14,000 deaths.
She said that the mayors were also reminded to adopt India’s RABI model, which was successful in containing the surge in cases in July to August last year.
This model includes: intense contact tracing, quarantine, and isolation.
She stressed that those who were contact-traced should be quarantined within 24 hours to prevent the spread of the virus.
Pasay cases
PASAY City Mayor Emi Calixto-rubiano, meanwhile, rejects the idea of placing the city under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) following the surge of Covid-19 cases and four cases of B1.351 (South Africa) variant recorded in the city.
Rubiano admitted that ECQ was one of her options when she was informed by the Department of Health (DOH) that the South Africa variant was detected in the city. “However, we observed that we have contained the cases within the community,” Rubiano said in a press briefing.
She said that she realized that ECQ would not be the best option for now for it would also affect the whole of the metropolis.
“The [local and international] airports are here, the LRT, the MRT. We are a travel hub. When you place Pasay under ECQ, domestic flights will be cancelled, international flights will be restricted,” she stressed.
She added that Metro Manila will “adjust accordingly.”
“Declaring ECQ is one thing but managing it is another matter,” she said, adding that it would also be the subject of consultations first with the Inter-agency Task Force.
The Covid-19 cases in the country surged to 584,667 on Thursday after 2,452 additional cases were logged.