Duque says no to Metro-wide lockdown as of now, but possibility remains

PUBLIC ADVISORY Makati Medical Center in Makati City has advised the public that the hospital has reached capacity for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus infections in Metro Manila continue to increase. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is not recommending a strict lockdown for Metro Manila despite the surge of COVID-19 cases. However, he is not discounting the possibility of it happening in the future.

Duque on Wednesday said he thinks localized lockdowns being implemented by local governments are “starting to yield some positive outcomes.”

“As of now, I don’t,” Duque said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked if he would recommend placing Metro Manila under a stricter lockdown.

“Hopefully the reversal of spikes will be observed in the next few days,” he added.

While Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine, local mayors last week have agreed to adopt uniform curfew hours in a bid to curb the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases.

Other localities also started to implement other measures such as liquor bans and granular lockdowns.

Duque said it would take about 10 to 14 days before the impact of the measures are felt.

If cases continue to rise despite the interventions, the Health chief said there is a “strong” possibility of a more widespread lockdown in Metro Manila.

“If nothing changes and cases continue to rise then the possibility of a more widespread lockdown is certainly strong,” he said.

“Yes, anything is possible but we have to calibrate our response depending on the data that comes in,” he added when asked if it is possible to place Metro Manila under a stricter lockdown.

He said the government will be consulting its technical advisory group as well as epidemiologists on whether there is a need for a widespread lockdown.

“If they say we need to have a more widespread lockdown, then we will recommend (it) to the President,” Duque said.

The Philippines has been observing sharp spikes of new COVID-19 infections ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 additional cases per day.

On Tuesday, the Department of Health recorded 4,437 new cases, bringing the total active cases in the country to 57,736.

The DOH began reporting over 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 again on March 5. The highest additional cases so far this year were logged on March 15 when the DOH reported 5,404 new infections.

The OCTA Research, which monitors COVID-19 trends in the Philippines, earlier warned that daily coronavirus cases in the country may hit 10,000 to 11,000 by the end of March considering the current reproduction number of COVID-19 cases.

/MUF