San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora on Monday said he “personally” favors retaining the National Capital Region (NCR) under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) for another two weeks.
“I would rather stay under MECQ and then reassess again after two weeks,” Zamora told CNN Philippines in an interview.
“It’s really hard to open up the economy at this point because even if we are improving, I know we can improve further,” he added.
Zamora said he also supports the Department of Health and OCTA Research Group’s position on the extension of MECQ in Metro Manila.
The OCTA group had earlier urged the government not to lift the MECQ if the below one reproduction rate in Metro Manila is not “sustained.”
NCR’s reproduction rate decreased to 0.98 on April 23.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque, for his part, said an extension of MECQ for “another week or two” is needed in the NCR.
“Yung ating health system capacity hindi masyadong nag i-improve sa ngayon (Out health system capacity is not improving that much right now),” Duque told DZMM Teleradyo on Monday.