ECQ was extended in Greater Manila Area for at least one more week, according to Malacañang.
Malacañang on Saturday announced that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was extended in Greater Manila Area for at least one more week.
After a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Saturday announced in a short virtual briefing that Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal, and Laguna will remain under ECQ as coronavirus cases continued to spike.
The Greater Manila Area will go on ECQ for another week after the Department of Health (DOH), some mayors, and OCTA Research group endorsed the extension of the lockdown in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The so-called “National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus)” was earlier placed in a bubble in order to tackle the surge in coronavirus infections at a speed never seen before.
Based on a report on CNN Philippines, Roque later told reporters that the said recommendation had been approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
During this ECQ period, Roque said that the national government planned to intensify its PDITR (Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat, and Reintegrate) strategy, which involved visiting residents in their homes in order to check who had coronavirus symptoms, and testing as well as isolating them.
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Roque also said that local government units (LGUs) and the czars (heads of efforts in testing, contact tracing, treatment, vaccine, etc.) should be monitoring the developments from using the said strategy.
If the said strategy was seen to be effective, Roque said that the Greater Manila area could then return to a more relaxed modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Amidst the fast-depleting number of available hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, Roque said that more beds for moderate to severe cases will be added during the ECQ period.
“Dito sa linggo ng karagdagang ECQ ay meron tayong 110 additional na moderate to severe beds na bubuksan na po at magiging operational dito sa Quezon Institute,” he said. “Sa susunod na buwan hindi po bababa ‘yan sa 160 additional moderate to severe bed capacity,” Roque said.
Prior to the said announcement, Roque posted on his Facebook page that he, instead of President Duterte, was tasked to announce the quarantine classifications of NCR Plus starting April 5, 2021.
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