Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has extended the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other “high risk” areas in Luzon until May 15, following the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“The decision regarding the ECQ when May 1, 2020 comes: maintain the ECQ for NCR, Region III, Region VI-A, and all other areas where the threat of COVID-19 is still great, until May 15,” announced Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a taped public address on Friday, April 24.
The other areas in Luzon that will still be under quarantine in May are Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, and the islands of Mindoro and Catanduanes.
Luzon’s quarantine was set to be lifted on April 13, but Duterte previously extended it until April 30.
The inclusion of Benguet, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Zambales under quarantine is still subject to monitoring by April 30, Roque said. Meanwhile, Antique, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Cebu, Cebu City, Davao del Norte, Davao City, and Davao de Oro will be re-evaluated.
He added that “low-risk” or “moderate-risk” areas will be under a “general community quarantine” until May 15 and will further be relaxed to “normalization” if there is no deterioration.
Duterte met with health experts and former heads of the Department of Health on Monday, April 20 to discuss the next government action on Luzon’s quarantine. He was then recommended the options to “maintain, relax or lift” the quarantine.
Several researchers from the University of the Philippine urged the extension of the quarantine in the populous island.
“One possible scenario caused by lifting the ECQ prematurely shows a surge in deaths from 650 to 3,800 and in the number of COVID-19 cases from 10,000 to 80,000 by May 31, 2020,” the experts said.
To date, there are 7,192 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, with 477 fatalities and 762 recoveries.
