Metro mayors to wait for DOH data before deciding on possible ECQ extension
By Dhel Nazario
Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said the Metro Manila Council (MMC) will wait for the data coming from the Department of Health (DOH) before it comes up with a recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on whether or not to extend the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) now being implemented in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR-plus).

In an interview with DZMM, Olivarez said that the Metro Manila mayors have to see first the trend of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases through the details from DOH.
Olivarez, who is also chairman of the MMC, said: "Pero alam naman po natin ang incubation ng virus is 14 days…pero hihintayin po natin yung data para malaman po natin kung ano irerekomenda sa IATF (We all know the incubation period of COVID-19 is two weeks…but we have to wait for the data to know what will we recommend)."
He added that the IATF will have to balance between containing the spread of COVID-19 and economic recovery.
On Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque admitted that health experts in the country are proposing an ECQ extension in NCR-plus.
The ECQ currently in effect over the Greater Metro Manila from March 29 to April 4, according to epidemiology bureau chief Dr. Althea de Guzman, will not be enough to fully bring down the COVID-19 cases.
She said COVID-19 cases may slightly decrease in the one-week ECQ but once the restrictions have been lifted, they will go up once again.