Headline
New quarantine status in MECQ areas after May 14: Palace
MANILA – The National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus) and other areas currently under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) will be placed under a new classification after May 14, Malacañang said on Thursday.
“Magbabago po ng quarantine classification. Kung meron mang pagbabago ay ang mga lugar under MECQ (There will be changes in quarantine classification. The changes will be applied to areas under MECQ),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.
President Rodrigo Duterte, he said, is expected to announce the new quarantine classifications in the country during his televised talk to the nation on Thursday night.
Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) are currently holding a meeting to come up with a final recommendation for the possible easing of quarantine restrictions in NCR Plus and other select areas, Roque said.
He said the IATF-EID’s decision would be based on the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) daily attack rate, two-week average attack rate, and healthcare utilization rate.
Ready to ease restrictions
He said the country is ready to relax the quarantine rules in the country, considering the significant drop in Covid-19 infections.
“So needless to say, ang rekomendasyon po ay sang-ayon sa ating overall stratehiya na dahan-dahan na pagbubukas ng ekonomiya para makamit ang total health (our recommendation is based on our overall strategy to gradually reopen our economy to achieve total health),” Roque said.
The NCR Plus (Metro Manila and provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal), Quirino, Abra, Ifugao, the City of Santiago in Isabela, and Zamboanga City are under MECQ until May 14.
On Monday, Roque said it is “possible” for NCR Plus to shift to a less strict general community quarantine (GCQ) from the more restrictive MECQ following improvements in the country’s healthcare utilization rates.
Travel ban
Roque also raised the possibility that the President might also discuss the country’s implementation of travel restrictions on passengers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
“I believe na paguusapan din po iyang mapapaso na travel ban. So puwede pong maanunsiyo rin iyan ng Pangulo (I believe the travel ban that is set to lapse will also be discussed. The President might also make an announcement regarding that),” he said.
The travel ban was imposed in India and four other nations that are part of the Indian subcontinent until May 14 in an effort to curb the spread of a reported “double mutant” Covid-19 strain first detected in New Delhi.
The Philippines has reported two cases of India’s “double mutant” B.1.617 variant.
The two individuals infected with Covid-19 variant from India are both male overseas Filipino workers and have already recovered from the disease.