Ahead of President Duterte's decision on the country's new quarantine classification for next month, Malacañang is starting to see some improving signs about the health situation.
According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, the country's new cases of coronavirus have started to "plateau" in the past two weeks.
The country's case doubling rate has also slowed down to 8.6 days. For Metro Manila alone, the infection cases double every 8.9 days, a rate that falls under general community quarantine (GCQ) status, Roque said.
He said the country's case fatality rate has likewise decreased to 2.37 percent from 2.9 percent last July 14. The mortality rate, Roque pointed out, is lower compared to the 4 percent global average.
"Bagama’t tumataas po ang kaso ng mga bagong nagkakasakit ay iyong suma-total naman po sa nakalipas na dalawang linggo ay nagpapakita na parang nagpa-plateau po ang mga bagong kaso, at least, dito sa nakalipas na dalawang linggo. (Although the new cases are increasing, the total of new cases shows an apparently plateauing at least in the past two weeks)," he said during televised press briefing Tuesday.
"Hindi po forgone conclusion na babalik tayo sa MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine) dahil ang case doubling rate naman po ay hindi lumala, bumuti lang nang bahagya. (It is not a forgone conclusion that we will return to MECQ because the case doubling rate did not worsen. It slightly improved)," he said.
Apart from the case doubling rate, Roque said the quarantine classification of a place depends on its critical care capacity to handle COVID patients. He noted that total hospital bed capacity is 54 percent. The intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity use however remains at the "dangerous level" of 70 percent, Roque said.
He said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Disease (IATF) held a meeting on Monday and discussed the health data related to the country's quarantine status. The task force will then consult concerned mayors about the quarantine level.
The IATF recommendation is expected to be submitted to President Duterte for his decision before August 1. "As in the past, before August 1 malalaman po natin ang mga bagong klasipikasyon (As in the past, we will know the new classification before August 1)," Roque said.
As of July 28, the cases of infections in the country have increased to 83,673 with 1,947 deaths and 26,617 recoveries.
The country is largely under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the most relaxed lockdown imposed by the government, until the end of the month.
Cebu City has downgraded to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from the most stringent enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) after some improvements in the COVID numbers.
Metro Manila however has stayed under the general community quarantine (GCQ) and can revert to stricter lockdown if its coronavirus data does not improve. Other areas under GCQ are Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Ormoc City, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga City, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Basilan, Talisay City and municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu province.