MGCQ shift still unlikely for NCR Plus – Roque

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday that NCR Plus is still unlikely to be placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) after June 15.

Instead, NCR Plus — or Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — is likely to be placed under “ordinary” GCQ starting June 16.

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NCR Plus is under GCQ “with restrictions” until June 15.

“Ang problema po natin mataas pa rin yung actual numbers, hindi pa tayo nakakabalik sa mga numero natin bago pumasok ang new variants [The problem is our numbers have yet to return to that level before the emergence of new coronavirus variants],” said Roque.

“So ang nakikita ko po ay ordinaryong GCQ pero sa tingin ko po mukang malabo pa yung MGCQ [So I’m seeing ordinary GCQ and not MGCQ],” Roque said.

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Meanwhile, Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research reiterated that NCR Plus is not ready for MGCQ, noting that any easing of restrictions should be gradually done.

“Maaari tayong magluwag, pero tulad ng ginagawa na natin dati dapat ay dahan-dahan. Expand tayo ng capacity, dagdag ng businesses [We can ease restrictions but only gradually],” he said.

“Okay lang magluwag tayo ng restrictions sa businesses kasi may rstrictions naman sila na pinapatupad [It’s okay to relax restrictions in businesses because they have their own restrictions],” he said.

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MGCQ shift still unlikely for NCR Plus – Roque

According to David, the local governments of Bacolod, Dumaguete, Tacloban, and Iloilo should also be on the lookout now for the COVID-19 cases.

He said the number of COVID-19 cases in Davao City has slightly decreased.

For ABS-CBN data analytics head Edson Guido, it will be more helpful if the general community quarantine with restrictions in NCR Plus is maintained first.

According to Guido, when comparing the data with the pre-surge days from January to February, NCR has only 430 cases per day.

Today, NCR cases hit 850 cases per day, double the number before there was a surge or increase in cases in March and April.

“Para sa akin, kung may momentum, sana ma-maintain natin ‘yong momentum. At the same time, dagdagan natin ‘yong vaccine para tuluy-tuloy na,” said Guido.

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