MANILA – The Department of Health is pushing for an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) extension in the “National Capital Region (NCR) Plus” as over 9,000 additional cases were recorded.
Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Tuesday said the ideal period for quarantine restrictions to impact the number of cases was at two weeks.
“Extension for another week was recommended but nothing is final and IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases) works in a whole of government approach. There will be an assessment of the progress before ECQ ends,” said Vergeire.
“One week is really not enough. Usually, the ideal for us would be about two weeks. We have to understand that even after one week of this strict lockdown, we really cannot see any change in the numbers, or any change in the healthcare utilization [rate] because that is just a short time,” she added.
Vergeire further said that projections showed the country could have up to 430,000 active cases by the end of April if tougher measures are not imposed to contain COVID-19 transmission.
Based on DOH data on Tuesday afternoon, there were 9,296 new cases which pushed the country’s total to 741,181. Among the total infections, 124,680 were active cases.
There were 103 new recoveries for a total of 603,310. Five additional deaths were logged, the country has now 13,191 COVID-19 fatalities.
NCR and its adjacent provinces Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna were put under the most stringent lockdown classification on Monday until April 4.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, meanwhile, said extending the ECQ status in NCR Plus possibly for one or two weeks will be the IATF-EID’s “absolute last resort.”
“Kung ma-e-extend pa ang ECQ, pinag-iispan ito ng mabuti ng inyong IATF. Sa Sabado, Black Saturday, ay meron po kaming muling pagpupulong para isapinal kung ano ang mangyayari. Pero sinabi ko na po ito, another week or two weeks of ECQ, ‘yan po ay magiging absolute last resort,” Roque on Tuesday said./PN
