A medical worker takes an oropharyngeal swab from a resident during a mass testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a park in Quezon City, suburban Manila on April 15, 2020. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — There is no need to consider stricter community quarantine measures yet despite the increasing number of new COVID-19 cases in the country, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Monday.
Nograles said local government units (LGUs) can always utilize their power to impose localized or granular lockdowns should there be a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“Right now, hindi naman kinakailangan if you’re talking about mag-MECQ [modified enchanced community quarantine] ba tayo or ECQ [enhanced community quarantine]. Hindi naman po kailangan,” Nograles said in an interview onABS-CBN News Channel.
(Right now, we don’t need to shift to MECQ or ECQ. It’s not yet needed.)
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles. FILE PHOTO
“Kasi the LGUs already have a localized and granular lockdown mechanism. And that’s already, kumbaga yan na yung ECQ na granular and localized level per barangay, per street, per building, per purok, per sitio. They can already do that,” he added.
(The LGUs already have the localized and granular lockdown mechanism. That’s already an ECQ but in a granular and localized level either per village, per street, per building, per district, per zone. They can already do that.)
On Sunday, the Philippines recorded more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day, bringing the total caseload to 594,412.
The OCTA Research, an independent research group, projected the country to have up to 6,000 COVID-19 cases per day by the end of March. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1404034/octa-projects-up-to-6000-new-daily-covid-19-cases-in-ph-by-end-march
Nograles said that the increase in number could be attributed to the public’s complacency and the presence of the United Kingdom and South African variants.
“We have to constantly remind them, we have to go back, kailangan balikan ng Metro Manila at ng ibang probinsya yung PDITR—prevention, detection, isolation, treatment and reintegration,” Nograles said.
“This whole week, the next two weeks will be dedicated to monitoring the quick response and actions of these LGUs. And then we’ll take it from there,” he added.