Easing Metro Manila’s lockdown to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) is “not an impossibility” considering the region’s downward trend in Covid-19 cases, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
Metro Manila will remain under general community quarantine for the whole month of October per President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest directive.
“It is not an impossibility dahil talaga naman pong napababa natin [ang numbers],” Palace spokesman Harry Roque told reporters in an online briefing.
“Pero nasa kababayan pa rin natin iyan sa Metro Manila, alam na po natin ang dapat gawin – mask, hugas, iwas gaya ng sinasabi ng ating Presidente doon sa ating ‘Ingat Buhay Para sa Kabuhayan’ campaign,” he added.
The country’s capital region recorded 930 new Covid-19 cases on Oct. 1. Its case tally lies at 164,711 infections, of which 23,129 were active.
While several areas in the country have seen a downturn in Covid-19 cases, Roque said it was still unknown when the country will flatten its infection curve.
“Bumababa po ang numero pero no one can predict po when we can actually flatten the curb. Ang importante po, hindi po nao-overwhelm iyong ating healthcare system… at dahil na rin po iyan sa kooperasyon ng lahat na nagma-mask, naghuhugas at umiiwas,” he said.
The country has recorded 314,079 Covid-19 cases as of Oct. 1. John Ezekiel J. Hirro