According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, quarantine rules may be further relaxed or even lifted in provinces after June 15. The announcement comes after seeing a decline in the number of COVID-19 infections per day.
In a public briefing, Roque showed a graph of confirmed cases based on the date of the onset of their illness which showed a steady decline in the number of cases.
“Kapag ni-record natin sa ganitong pamamaraan, makikita niyo kung bakit tama lang naman na nag-GCQ na tayo sa Metro Manila at sa iba pang mga lugar dahil nakikita niyo na bumababa na po ang kaso ng COVID sa atin,” Roque said.
Because of this, Roque said a reclassification of quarantine protocols for provinces is likely to be announced before June 15. However, Metro Manila will still need closer examination to determine whether or not it’s ready to shift to modified general community quarantine by next week. According to Roque, data for Metro Manila is different compared to the national trend due to its being the epicenter of the disease in the country. Around 12,000 of the nationwide cases are from Metro Manila.
“I would say that it is a safe conclusion na magkakaroon na naman po ng reclassification, except iba talaga ang data ng Metro Manila,” Roque added.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will be sending a new proposal to President Duterte this week discussing the possible changes in quarantine protocols nationwide.
Currently, only Metro Manila, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Pangasinan, Albay, Western Visayas, Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Davao City are under general community quarantine, while the rest of the country is under modified general community quarantine.
As of writing, there are 22,474 cases in the Philippines with 1,011 deaths and 4,637 recovered.
Header photo screengrabbed from Presidential Communications Operations Office
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