(Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s COVID-19 pandemic task force may consider the recommendation of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to eventually place Metro Manila under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in a bid to revitalize the economy, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez earlier said Metro Manila should revert to MECQ “at the soonest possible time” but added that more granular lockdowns should be imposed in areas where there is a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Duque, chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the task force may also discuss the proposal of Lopez.
“Pwede naman ‘yan pagusapan ng IATF. Tayo sa IATF kasi, ang pinakikinggan natin dito ay ‘yung All Experts Group na talagang pinag-aralan at nagpakadalubhasa sa larangan ng ganitong mga conditions or bases,” he said in an ABS-CBN Teleradyo interview.
(This can be discussed by the IATF. The IATF listens to members of the All Experts Group who have really studied these conditions or bases.)
“‘Yung sinasabi ng DTI, pwede naman pag-usapan ‘yan sa IATF. MECQ but really hard and tough granular lockdowns. So granular lockdowns at huwag papayagan ang non-essential activities,” Duque added.
(The recommendation of the DTI for an MECQ with really hard and tough granular lockdowns can be discussed by the IATF. So there will be granular lockdowns and non-essential activities will not be allowed.)
Metro Manila was placed under ECQ, the strictest quarantine status, from August 6 to 20 in order to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases due to the highly transmissible Delta variant that was first detected in India.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that the variant has been detected in all the 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila.
The country has 81,399 active COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, including 12,021 new cases, that most in the last four months.
Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 tracker, there are 21,940 active cases in Metro Manila, including 3,126 additional cases logged on Wednesday.