Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III explained that placing Metro Manila and other areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) is the government’s way to prevent the potential spike of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases during the Christmas season.
“There would be more people going out, therefore increasing contact rate, also the transmission rate. There could be a potential surge of cases,” Duque said in an interview on CNN Philippines on Tuesday.
“The IATF thought it best to maintain it para naman nang sa ganun, if we celebrate the Christmas holidays and the New Year, there should still be a measure of caution,” he added.
Duque said there should be a sense of awareness among the public that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country may increase during the season.
Duque advised the public to have a sense of awareness that a surge of new Covid-19 infections might happen during this month.
“To keep it at GCQ, we will, hopefully, forestall or prevent that surge from happening,” he said.
The government is preparing in terms of monitoring and availability of health facilities to immediately control a possible surge of cases, Duque added.
President Rodrigo Duterte announced during his public address aired on Monday night that Metro Manila’s GCQ status will be extended until the end of the year.
Duterte said the following areas are also under GCQ:
- National Capital Region
- Batangas
- Iloilo City
- Tacloban City
- Lanao del Sur
- Iligan
- Davao City
Meanwhile, the rest of the country is under modified GCQ. RJ Espartinez