MANILA – Beginning Oct. 16, Iloilo city and province would be under the less strict general community quarantine (GCQ), based on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“This latest risk-level classification shall take effect until Oct. 31,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told Panay News last night.
Iloilo province will further downgrade after being placed under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) since Aug. 7. The province was under the strictest quarantine on July 16 to Aug. 6.
Iloilo City, on the other hand, will end its heightened GCQ status on Oct. 15.
Mayor Jerry Treñas earlier sought the easing of the metro’s quarantine level, which was backed by local business groups.
“We thank the IATF for lowering our quarantine classification,” Treñas said last night.
“We need to ramp up our vaccination; strictly observe the minimum health protocols so that we lessen the risk of infection; continue our testing; and isolate the positive patients so that by November we can be classified under MGCQ ,” he added.
IATF-MEID previously tightened Iloilo’s quarantine levels due to the uptick in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and the emergence of the more virulent Delta variant.
No changes, however, were recommended for Negros Occidental, Aklan, Antique, and Guimaras (regular GCQ) and Bacolod City and Capiz (GCQ with heightened restrictions).
Roque said IATF-EID has yet to consider the policy shift to granular lockdown with alert level system outside the National Capital Region (NCR).
According to the Palace spokesperson, IATF-EID has yet to assess if the alert level system will be an effective tool to be implemented for the rest of the country.
It’s still on a pilot run in NCR, according to Roque./PN
