Metro Manila shifting to MGCO a ‘remote possibility’, says Palace

Last updated on May 6th, 2021 at 07:05 am

METRO MANILA – Metro Manila shifting to a more relaxed lockdown measure or modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) is only a “remote possibility”, Malacañang said Thursday.

According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, even if critical care capacity for COVID-19 patients improves in the following days, its highly unlike that Metro Manila will be upgrading to a more relaxed lockdown measure.

Metro Manila’s COVID-19 case rate remains at double in the last nine days. The requirement for a MGCQ status is at 28 days.

Roque said that his prediction is that if the cases improves a little bit, maybe there’s a possibility that we may go MGCQ. Metro Manila’s critical care capacity remains huge with the added 250-bed capacity to the current 1,500 in the ICU.

However, Roque reiterated that he’s only speculating and the final decision is still up to the government’s IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases).

Metro Manila was placed in the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until August 18 to let the healthcare workers get their much-needed breather. According to the Department of Health, there are currently 79,374 COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, more than half of the total cases in the country with 2,404 deaths and 68,997 recoveries.