FILE PHOTO/AFP
MANILA, Philippines — With guidelines for the enforcement of granular lockdowns in Metro Manila yet to set, the National Capital Region (NCR) will be under the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) said Wednesday.
The government recalled its decision to downgrade Metro Manila to general community quarantine (GCQ) for the rest of September and to pilot implement granular lockdowns where movements are only restricted in small areas.
Malacañang said Metro Manila will remain under MECQ until September 15.
“Unang una, yung atin pong guidelines na inaantay ay hindi pa po naihahanda at naipapamahagi sa lahat ng mga magiimplement,” NTF spokesperson Restituto Padilla said in a televised briefing when asked why the decision was recalled.
(First of all, the guidelines we’re waiting for are not yet ready and have yet to be distributed to those who will implement it.)
“At nagkaroon pa rin po ng meeting kahapon, ang ugnayan na ito ay kasama po ang Metro Manila mayors at marami rin pong lumabas na katanungan na maaaring hindi pa rin po naging bahagi ng nakalatag o nakahandang guidelines na kailangan pang palawagin,” he added.
(There was a meeting yesterday with Metro Manila mayors and there were many questions raised that are not yet part of the prepared guidelines which we need to expand.)
Padilla said calls of some health workers to defer the region’s shift to relaxed restrictions may also be among the reasons behind the government’s decision.
The government backtracked its earlier pronouncement on Metro Manila’s quarantine status as the country continued to record a high number of new COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday alone, 18,012 new cases were logged bringing the country’s total active cases to 158,637.