Palace: Metro Manila shift to MGCQ a ‘remote possibility’

THERE is only a ” remote possibility” that the quarantine status of Metro Manila, the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in the country, may be downgraded to a most relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) next week, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said that Metro Manila would have “tremendous” improvement in critical care capacity but noted its case doubling rate remained at nine days, faster than the 28-day requirement for areas to be placed under MGCQ.

“Ang aking prediction po huwag lang lumala ‘yung case doubling time, mag-improve pa sana ng kaunti baka mayroon pa possibility na MGCQ na dahil napakalaki na ng critical care capacity ng Metro Manila (My prediction is if our case doubling time will not worsen and will slightly improve, there may be a possibility of a MGCQ because Metro Manila’s critical care capacity has become bigger),” Roque said during a televised press briefing.

Roque said that Metro Manila’s critical care capacity appeared to be no longer in the “danger zone” as the government scaled up the hospital bed capacity and established more isolation centers.

He also said the government was set to inaugurate the additional 250 isolation beds built at the East Avenue Medical Center on August 17 that would help boost the healthcare capacity of Metro Manila.

Roque, however, later on clarified he was only “speculating” and that the decision to place Metro Manila under MGCQ was still up to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF).

“Let me correct no. I am just speculating. It’s a decision of the IATF but on the basis of critical care capacity if we proceed with the inauguration and use of 250 bed capacity baka pupuwede (It is possible),” he said.

Apart from improving critical care capacity, Roque said the rate at which Covid-19 cases were doubling in the capital region must further slow down to merit an MGCQ level.

To date, there are 79,374 Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila, according to the Department of Health’s tracker. This is more than half of the 143,749 Covid-19 cases nationwide, which includes 2,404 deaths and 68,997 recoveries.

Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal were initially under a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) but were reverted to MECQ amid calls by medical frontliners for a “timeout” amid the increasing number of Covid infections.

Source: TheManila Times