Palace: NCR a long way from MGCQ; case doubling must slow down
Metro Manila still has a long way to go before it could shift to the less restrictive Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the doubling rate of coronavirus cases in Metro Manila must slow down to 28 days to qualify for the MGCQ level.
Metro Manila, considered the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has a case doubling rate of around nine days, one of the factors for its General Community Quarantine status.
The capital region and four nearby provinces shifted from Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) on August 19 until the end of the month. These areas were placed under MECQ for the past two weeks after the medical community appealed for a timeout from the surge in infections.
“To achieve a case doubling rate of 28 days, you must have less than 1 R0 (reproduction number) So parang hindi sapat ang one, it has to be less than 1 R0 for 28 days case doubling rate,” Roque said during a televised press briefing Tuesday.
“So medyo malayo pa po ang tatahakin natin pagdating sa MGCQ. (So we still have a long way to go when it comes to MGCQ),” he said.
Apart from the case doubling rate, the critical care capacity is another factor that helps determine the quarantine classification of a place.
Roque said the critical care utilization rate of a local government unit must stay below the dangerous level of 70 percent. “Seventy percent above is dangerous, so below 70 is not dangerous. So we should not exceed 70 percent of our critical care capacity,” he said.
As of August 17, the Department of Health reported that at least 71 percent of the 3,700 isolation beds in Metro Manila hospitals are occupied.
At least 81 percent of the 1,700 ward beds are in use, while 70 percent of the intensive care unit beds are occupied. Around 43 percent of the 893 ventilators are also being used.
DOH: PH cannot remain
in lockdown forever Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country cannot “remain in lockdown forever” amid criticism that it was premature to revert Metro Manila back to GCQ.
“You know, even the experts are saying it is not just community quarantine which is the only intervention to fight COVID-19,” Vergeire told ANC in an interview.
Based on studies conducted by the country’s economic managers, Vergeire said if the country continues to be placed under lockdown, a lot of people will go hungry and certain diseases will become evident.
“The government has to balance between health and economics because economics also has health impacts,” she said.
Vergeire assured the public that the government has safeguards in place so that even if quarantine measures are eased it will still be able to “somehow contain the transmission” of the virus.
Among these safeguards are the granular lockdowns and strict implementation of minimum health standards.
‘Recalibrated strategies’
The two-week MECQ has given the government time to recalibrate its strategies, according to Vergeire.
“We have gone down, and we have met with the priority areas in the country, in Metro Manila and the other provinces nearby,” she said.
“When we went down to these different localities, we were able to see what was happening on the ground,” she added.
Vergeire said that during the two-week time out, the government “primed” the system so that the local government units will follow suit.
Among the efforts done by the government include the strengthening of the referral system through the One Hospital Command, and improving contract tracing.
According to the DOH official, the local governments in Metro Manila will work on a 1 is to 10 or 1 is to 20 contact tracing ratio.
Vergeire said the government is “looking at increasing” the number of persons being traced in the next few weeks.