The government may ease quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila if the occupancy of hospital beds falls to at least 60 percent, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
“For health care utilization, we need to see that the utilization will be down to at least 60% before we can say we are at that safe level,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a Palace briefing.
The current health care utilization rate for the National Capital Region (NCR) is about 80 percent, which is classified as high risk, Vergeire said.
She added that intensive care unit (ICU) beds are almost 100 percent occupied in all cities in Metro Manila.
“We need to bring it down so we are able to say that our health care system can manage,” she said.
At the Palace, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government is considering a less strict modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) after the ECQ expires on April 11 in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna.
“With the implementation of stricter community quarantine and enforcement of health protocols, we expect that COVID-19 numbers will go down to 4,000 a day by May 15,” Roque said.
“ECQ in Metro Manila and the nearby four provinces was supposed to end on April 4, but was extended for another week until April 11 due to the surge in new COVID-19 cases”, he said in an interview on the ABS-CBN news channel.
Roque said the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases decided that the following industries can operate in full capacity under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ):
• Health, emergency, and frontline services – HMOs, health insurance providers, disaster risk reduction management officers, and public safety officers, and the like
• Essential retail trade and service establishments – hardware, office supplies,
• Bicycle shops
• Public transport providers and operators
The following may operate under skeleton on-site capacity under the ECQ:
• Janitorial/sanitation services and facilities
• Establishments engaged in repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment, for households and essential permitted establishments
• Establishments engaged in the repair and maintenance of motorized and non-motorized vehicles, including the sale of spare parts.
• Teachers, professors, and other staff for purposes of conducting online/offline, and flexible classes, completion of grades, and processing of student credentials, requirements, and documents
· Lawyers who will provide legal representation necessary to protect the rights of persons as well as legal services for permitted establishments
Meanwhile, the IATF became stricter in implementing age restrictions in areas under the modified ECQ (MECQ) and the general community quarantine (GCQ).
In its new omnibus guidelines, the IATF reverted the minimum age allowed to leave their homes to 18 from 15.
Those below 18 years old and over 65 years old, those with co-morbidities and other health risks, and pregnant women should stay in their homes except for obtaining essential goods and services or for work in industries allowed to operate.
Meanwhile, the DOH on Monday said it could not determine if the one-week extension of the ECQ in “NCR Plus” will be enough to address the COVID-19 surge in the country.
Vergeire, in an interview on Unang Balita, said the situation will be assessed on a week-to-week basis.
The ECQ in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal, and Cavite – known as NCR Plus — was originally from March 29 to April 4 only.
This was extended for a week to last until April 11.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, meanwhile, said all essential public and private construction projects are now allowed at full operational capacity in areas under the ECQ.
Villar signed a department order for a new set of construction safety guidelines for the implementation of public and private infrastructure projects.
He said public and private construction projects will be allowed at full operational capacity in areas under ECQ and Modified ECQ, subject to strict compliance with the new construction safety guidelines, with the exemption of small-scale projects.
“In ECQ and MECQ areas, we are prohibiting the operation of small-scale projects that are private and personal use, and which, because of scale, would… be unable to comply with our guidelines,” said Villar.
Essential public and private infrastructure projects allowed to operate during ECQ and MECQ include the construction of: health, quarantine, and isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients including dorms for healthcare workers; vaccination centers or facilities necessary for supply, distribution, and administration of vaccines; health, quarantine, and isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients including dorms for healthcare workers; vaccination centers or facilities necessary for supply, distribution, and administration of vaccines; facilities for construction personnel of doing emergency works and other disaster risk reduction and rehabilitation works; and educational facilities and other government structures.
Also allowed are the construction of sewerage and water service projects, and digital works; priority public infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, flood-control, and active transport facilities; and priority private infrastructure projects to include facilities for food production, agriculture, fisheries, energy, housing, communication, water utilities, manufacturing, and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Meanwhile, all public and private construction projects are allowed in areas under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified GCQ, subject to the latest construction safety guidelines.
In other developments:
* ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro on Monday slammed what she described as "the continuing failed pandemic response of the Duterte administration that has done nothing to effectively strengthen the health care system and only worsens the economic crisis the Filipino people endure every day." Castro said the continuing lockdowns without a corresponding comprehensive health response and adequate economic support for the most affected and vulnerable sectors of society would be useless.
* People in NCR Plus areas, Cebu City, and Davao City have been temporarily barred from traveling to Western Visayas, where the world-famous Boracay Island is located, the Palace said Monday. Roque said the decision of the IATF stemmed from the request of local officials in Region VI.