Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte will not hesitate in placing the entire city under lockdown once the quarantine status in Metro Manila shifts to the least stringent Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ).
Belmonte on Tuesday said she would do this “if necessary” as the local government is already “anticipating” that the “MGCQ set up” would lead to a “spike” in new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
“Under the MGCQ, one of the conditions was offices 100 percent capacity,” she said over ANC interview, “And based on our data here…most of our cases come from the workplace.”
"People who go to work bring home the virus and then they infect the entire community So we already know that opening…the workplace, cases would spike,” she added.
Belmonte said she has already asked the city council to “pass an ordinance that wil allow Quezon City to even lockdown the entire city if necessary” even “without asking for permission” from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
"We’ve gone that far because that’s the way I think. I’d like to think in terms of the worst case scenario. So at least, in any eventuality, we would be prepared,” she said.
Belmonte said the city is currently reporting about 95 new COVID-19 cases per day.
"According to our health experts, we can comfortably handle about 200 . After 200, it’s a red flag,” she added.
Belmonte assured her constituents that they have nothing to worry about once the local government implements a lockdown.
She said the local government has already "set aside considerable funds in case there is another lockdown."
“We are prepared to provide more assistance to our people. So it’s a matter of planning. And it’s a matter of anticipating a worst case scenario,” she added.