Palace says gov’t may amend quarantine status, especially if community health risks increase
Updated May 15, 2020, 4:09 PM
The government may still amend the community quarantine classification in some areas depending on health and economic considerations, Malacañang said Friday.
In light of the reported appeals from some local government units to restore the strict lockdown measures in their areas, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said classifying the moderate and low risk places under general community quarantine is still “temporary and flexible.”
Roque explained that the decision on the quarantine level in places will depend on the doubling rate of coronavirus cases, capacity of critical care facilities in the local government units as well as economic factors.
“First of all, there is a process and we have formed a committee on validation and appeals to accept all appeals of local government units that want to be placed under ECQ. All appeals will be acted upon.The IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) will a hold meeting on Friday afternoon,” he said in Filipino during a radio interview Friday.
“The shift of areas to GCQ is temporary and flexible. We are looking at case doubling rate, the critical care capacity and of course economic factors. If we see there is an increase in cases and the critical care capacity is not sufficient for patients, the area will be returned under ECQ. In other words, we are doing everything gradually. This is not permanent. It depends on the spread of the disease,” he said.
Asked if the GCQ areas can still be declared under ECQ, Roque said: “Yes. We will be flexible and all of these are temporary depending on developments. Until there is no vaccine or cure, we can only aim to slow down the disease but at the same time try to resume livelihood of our people.”
After a two-month strict containment measure, the government has decided to place Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu City under the modified enhanced community quarantine from May 16 to May 31. In these high-risk areas, public transportation will remain prohibited but more businesses will be allowed to partially open. Limited outdoor activities such as walking, jogging, and biking will also be permitted.
Moderate and low risk areas, on the other hand, will have less strict general community quarantine until the end of the month.
Some local government units in Central Luzon have reportedly appealed for the implementation of modified enhanced community quarantine instead of being under GCQ after May 15. Concerns have reportedly been raised that any sudden easing of restrictions may lead to a surge in coronavirus infections in their areas.
