The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed over the Greater Manila Area could be extended if the region continues to see an “exponential” rise in Covid-19 cases, National Task Force vs Covid-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez said on Tuesday.
Galvez said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases would monitor the spread of the disease and “look seriously” into the recommendation of health experts to extend the ECQ.
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal are under ECQ until April 4.
“Kapag nagkakaroon pa rin iyong continuous steep rise of [Covid-19 cases], ibig sabihin iyong exponential increase niya is hindi siya nagpa-plateau or hindi siya bumababa, it means that the intervention that we are having, kailangan makumpleto po natin,” Galvez said in a Palace briefing.
“We are open to the recommendation of our experts na i-extend natin ng 14 days kasi iyon ang sinasabi nga nila, na iyong [incubation] period noong virus is 14 days.”
Should the government lift the ECQ, Galvez said the National Capital Region (NCR)-Plus could remain under a “bubble.”
According to Palace spokesman Harry Roque, the IATF was set to convene this Saturday to decide whether the lockdowns would be extended.
NCR has 317,671 Covid-19 cases as of March 29, of which more than 63,000 were active. John Ezekiel J. Hirro