From the current modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna will be reduced to general community quarantine (GCQ) starting May 15 but “with heightened restrictions”.
In a televised briefing on Thursday by President Rodrigo Duterte, along with several Cabinet officials, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the new quarantine restrictions on NCR Plus GCQ “with heightened restrictions” will last until May 31.
Other GCQ venues during this period are:
Apayao
Baguio City
Benguet
Kalinga
Mountain Province
Abra
Cagayan
Isabela
Nueva Vizcaya
Batangas
Quezon
Puerto Princesa
Iligan City
Davao City
Lanao del Sur
Under MECQ are:
City of Santiago
Quirino
Ifugao
Zamboanga City
The rest of the country will remain under the modified GCQ.
NCR Plus downgraded to GCQ ‘with heightened restrictions’ until end-May
Meanwhile, the number of daily Covid-19 cases in the Philippines dropped from May 5-11 by 16% compared to the previous week, according to a report by the OCTA Research Group.
According to the group, the country has reported a 7-day average of 6,522 cases with a reproduction number of 0.81.
A reproduction number of 1.00 or higher here indicates continued virus infection.
“The most current 7-day average of daily average of new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is 6,522, which is 16% lower compared to the previous week,” said OCTA Research team.
However, there has been an increase in virus cases in Zamboanga with the most cases outside Metro Manila recording a 47% case increase or an average of 151 a day.
Puerto Princesa recorded a 35% one-week growth rate or 60 cases per day while Batangas City and Cagayan de Oro City also recorded an increase in cases.
Tuguegarao, Baguio, and Puerto Princesa have an average daily attack rate (ADAR) higher than 20 per 100,000. The area reported ADAR with higher than 10 per 100,000 is called high risk by the Department of Health.
Some experts have previously said that quarantine restrictions should be gradually eased in the face of emerging COVID-19 variants and so as not to surprise the country’s healthcare capacity.
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