MANILA – Philippines will largely remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) beyond June 30 after the country’s pandemic task force temporarily removed the “new normal” classification.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) has recalibrated its community quarantine system in its Resolution no. 48.
“Sa ngayon po wala munang new normal. Ibig sabihin lahat ng lugar po sa Pilipinas meron pa rin community quarantine,” Roque said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
The MGCQ was previously touted as the transition point to the “new normal” or the full easing of virus restrictions but it was removed from the community quarantine system for now, Roque said.
“The changes in the community quarantine system are only temporary and subject to change,” Roque said.
Roque added that the IATF-EID will still use the case doubling time and critical care utilization rate of different areas in community quarantine classifications.
Areas found to be at high-risk of coronavirus disease 2019 local transmission will be placed under community quarantine (ECQ) or modified ECQ. Those with moderate-risk of local transmission of the virus will be classified either as general community quarantine areas or MGCQ areas.
Instead of transitioning to the “new normal,” areas with low-risk of COVID-19 local transmission will remain under MGCQ.
For MECQ and MGCQ areas, the IATF will consider the following indicators: social, economic, and security factors, clustering of cases, health system capacity and continuous increasing or decreasing new cases, case doubling time and critical care utilization rate./PN
