‘NCR Plus’ to be under MECQ starting April 12 until April 30 — Palace

MANILA, Philippines — The government has downgraded the quarantine classification over Metro Manila and four of its adjacent provinces to a less stringent modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) starting Monday, April 12 , Presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced Sunday.

In an announcement over state-run PTV, Roque said that the MECQ period in Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal will end on April 30.

Areas under MECQ also include the city of Santiago in Quirino province, and Abra.

“Inaprubahan ngayong araw ng ating Presidente ang rekomendasyon ng inyong IATF na ilagay ang mga lugar na ito,” Roque said.

One of the basis in the decision to downgrade the quarantine classification over the “NCR Plus” bubble was the commitment of hospitals to increase COVID-19 beds, especially those in intensive care units, Roque said.

He said he will discuss the difference between ECQ and MECQ during his regular press briefing on Monday.

Meanwhile, the following areas will be placed under general community quarantine:

-Cordillera Administrative Region

-Batangas province

-Tacloban City

-Iligan City

-Davao City

-Lanao del Sur province

-Quezon province

The rest of the country will be placed under modified GCQ.

The NCR Plus bubble was placed under enhanced community quarantine starting March 29 due to the exponential increase of COVID-19 cases in the area.

This quarantine classification lasted until this Sunday, April 11.

As of Saturday, April 10, the Philippines has 853,209 COVID-19 cases, of which 190,245 are active cases, 648,220 are recovered cases and 14,744 are deaths.

JE