Palace hopes reimposed two-week ECQ in NCR will be ‘last ever lockdown’

FILE PHOTO: Commuters wait for free shuttle and their respective company shuttle service while strictly observing social distancing at Commonwealth Avenue in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, as the National Capital Region (NCR) reverted to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) due to rising COVID-19 cases. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is hoping that the approaching two-week reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila will be the “last ever lockdown” given that vaccinations against COVID-19 were already increasing.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this Tuesday as he insisted that the national government’s decision to reintroduce the hard lockdown in the National Capital Region was arrived at through foresight, as it was guided by science.

“We hope this will be our last ever lockdown kasi tumataas na ‘yung numero ng ating pagbabakuna (because the number of our vaccinations are already increasing),” he said in a Palace briefing.

“Hindi siya [lockdown] reactive. We had foresight, we are guided by science and we are preparing for what we hope to be our last ever lockdown pero nakasalalay ‘yan sa doon sa pagbabakuna natin, ng ating kababayan,” he added.

(This is not reactive. We had foresight, we are guided by science and we are preparing for what we hope to be our last ever lockdown but that is dependent on our COVID-19 vaccination program.)

He said vaccinations will decrease the number of individuals experiencing severe or critical COVID-19 symptoms and even deaths.

“From now on, kung ma-achieve natin ang population protection, it’s the number of critical and serious cases that will matter and the death rates dahil pag bakunado na, COVID-19 can become an ordinary cold,” the spokesman added.

For the fourth time, Metro Manila will be under the strictest quarantine classification in a bid to slow down the spread of the feared COVID-19 Delta variant which may possibly cause a notable surge of cases.  The latest ECQ period in the region will be from August 6-20.

READ: Metro Manila mayors want 2-week NCR lockdown, inoculations without classifications

Metro Manila mayors have requested four million COVID-19 vaccine doses to achieve its goal of inoculating 250,000 residents a day.

Anti-coronavirus vaccinations will continue despite the ECQ in the nation’s capital region.

Roque said on Monday that Metro Manila was assured of getting at least 2.5 million vaccine doses during the lockdown.

KGA