Metro Manila Mayors have expressed readiness to impose stricter quarantine restriction in the National Capital Region (NCR) amid the combined threat of increasing cases and Delta variant.
In a statement issued July 28, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Benhur Abalos said all 17 NCR mayors agreed to strictly implement Prevention, Detection, Isolation, Treatment, and Reintegration (PDITR) strategy.
“[If] the national government has available funds for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), Metro Manila Mayors expressed NCR’s readiness to be classified under Enhanced Community Quarantine for a period of two weeks,” Abalos said.
The Metro Manila Council (MMC) also requested for at least four million COVID-19 vaccine doses for the region “to be administered during the two-week period.”
“Aggressive contact tracing, massive testing, and strict isolation would then be ramped up to further reduce COVID 19 cases in Metro Manila while waiting for the requested four million vaccines,” Abalos said.
Abalos said on July 29 that the MMC is appealing to expand restrictions under the general community quarantine (GCQ) with “heightened restrictions” classification in Metro Manila in case ECQ is excluded from the options.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will discuss the matter during its meeting today.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in his briefing today (July 29) that it was not discussed during their July 28 meeting due to technical problems.
The said meeting was followed by the August quarantine classification announcement, which remains subject to appeal as of Thursday noon.
“This is on the agenda of the IATF this afternoon. If there will be a decision to declare ECQ pursuant to the request of the mayors, it will be contingent on ayuda na pwedeng ibigay,” Roque said.
In terms of the requested four million doses, Roque said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has guaranteed to provide around two million doses, noting that the allocation has to be equitable.
Criteria
In the same briefing, Dr. Alethea De Guzman of Department of Health (DOH) epidemiology bureau said quarantine type escalation is also based on health care capacity, aside from case increase.
In terms of de-escalation, the epidemiologist said among the factors are sufficient health capacity for surveillance, contact tracing, and isolation.
De Guzman said the increased number of dedicated COVID-19 beds during the surge last March has contributed to the low hospital utilization rate in NCR despite the ongoing increase in cases.
Report from Patrick de Jesus/AG-rir
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