Quarantine fate rests on Metro mayors
President Rodrigo Duterte will consider the recommendation of Metro Manila mayors in his decision whether to finally allow the implementation of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) starting February.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 spokesperson Restituto Padilla said that mayors are still assessing in their meetings whether an MGCQ classification is possible in Metro Manila.
“The possibility of further relaxing the restrictions is being discussed during the meetings of the mayors in the NCR. We have also data which will be the basis if there is reason to allow a more relaxed quarantine,” Padilla said.
The economic managers have been pushing to downgrade the restrictions in Metro Manila as part of the efforts to open the economy.
“Personally, from my end, based on the data that we are seeing, we are not yet ready for an MGCQ. We should maintain the status quo until our numbers further improve,” Padilla added.
He added that the threat of the new variant from the United Kingdom (UK) should also be considered in the decision of quarantine classification in Metro Manila, following confirmed cases in Mountain Province.
Duterte is expected to announce the new quarantine classification for the month of February on Monday.
Many areas are now under MGCQ while the NCR and some areas with high cases of Covid-19 are still under general community quarantine (GCQ).
The Trade Department, an influential member of President Duterte’s economic team, will push for the less strict MGCQ, following the recent easing of age restrictions of 10 to 65 years old.
The current GCQ classification for NCR and neighboring provinces is about to lapse at the end of January.
In an interview, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the proposal for NCR to be under MGCQ, will depend on January Covid-19 numbers.
“If the numbers would show continued improvement in Covid cases, the economic team as well as most members of IATF (InterAgency Task Force) are ready to support the de-escalation to MGCQ,” he said.
Lopez stressed that they will continue to push the gradual and safe reopening of the economy with strict compliance to health protocols, which has been seen as the right approach, even in the resurgence of the strain of Covid-19.