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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Stricter quarantine status in Metro Manila not yet recommended by DOH

Stricter quarantine status in Metro Manila not yet recommended by DOH

Published Mar 17, 2021 12:35 pm

Despite the rise in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, a stricter quarantine measure in Metro Manila is not yet being recommended by the Department of Health (DOH) but noted that it is not discounting such possibility.

(ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)

"As of now, I don’t. I think the localized lockdowns are starting to yield some positive outcomes," said DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday, March 17.

Duque expressed hope that there will be significant changes in the trends of new cases in the coming days with the imposition of localized lockdowns.

"Hopefully, the reversal of spikes will be observed in the next few days but we are looking at about 10 to 14 days more before the impact is actually felt. This is not as if you do the lockdown tonight, tomorrow cases will go down. That is not the way it is. There is a lag time before the impact is felt," said the Health chief.

"But if nothing changes and the cases continue to rise--- then the possibility of a more widespread lockdown is certainly strong," he noted.

"Yes, (anything) is possible. But we have to calibrate our response depending on the data that comes in," he furthered.

As of now, Metro Manila is placed under general community quarantine (GCQ). 

Duque said that members of the technical working group and other experts will be consulted if widespread lockdown is necessary.

"If they (experts) say that we need to have a more widespread lockdown, then we will recommend (this) to the President," he said.

Since March 5, the number of new COVID-19 cases being reported daily has ranged between 3,000 to 5,000.

As of March 16, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is at 57,736. The country’s cumulative tally of cases is at 631,320, including 560,736 recoveries and 12,848 deaths.

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