Laguna will remain under the most restrictive enhanced community quarantine until August 20 to “slow down the surge of COVID-19 cases,” the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said yesterday.
The new ruling came less than 24 hours after the IATF said Friday Laguna’s lockdown status will be downgraded by modified ECQ from August 16 to 31.
“This latest ECQ re-classification was made to maximize its effects, slow down the surge of COVID-19 cases, further stop the spread of variants and improve health system capacity to protect more lives in the aforesaid area,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
Based on the DOH case tracker, Laguna logged 883 new cases as of Aug. 13, the second-highest among the Region IV-A (Calabarzon) provinces, next to Cavite’s 1,095. Of the province’s 56 facilities with dedicated COVID beds, 19 were classified as critical and 11 as high risk, with an overall bed occupancy of 73.8 percent.
No consensus yet on ECQ extension
Metro Manila mayors have not yet reached a consensus on whether ECQ will be extended in the region until August 30, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Benhur Abalos Jr. said.
Abalos, who heads the Metro Manila Council, said the mayors are still monitoring their respective COVID-19 data before making a decision on the ECQ status that will last until August 20.
Extending the hard lockdown would require more cash assistance or ayuda for at least 80 percent of Metro Manila’s 13 million residents.
‘Lockdown is no remedy’
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines, for its part, bucked a possible extension of the ECQ, saying reopening the economy is key to preventing further job losses.
“It is time we learn that lockdown is not the remedy. Let’s compromise. We have to think that the economy is more important and we have to live with COVID-19,” said ECOP president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. in a statement.
Based on the projection of the Department of Health, extending the ECQ for another three weeks could result in 15,000 active cases in Metro Manila by the end of September, while a one week extension with two weeks MECQ could result in 42,000 active cases. The department estimates there could be around 58,000 active cases if ECQ is not extended and Metro Manila shifts to MECQ for three weeks after Aug. 20.
Penalize unauthorized booster shots
Meanwhile, Metro Manila mayors have agreed to hold liable individuals who use government-procured COVID-19 vaccines as booster shots.
Abalos said the Emergency Use Authorization issued by the Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 vaccines does not include the use of a booster shot.
“There were reports that some fully-vaccinated persons are getting inoculated utilizing government-procured COVID-19 vaccines as booster shots in violation of the National Immunization Program and the EUA,” read the MMDA resolution signed by all 17 Metro Manila mayors.
The Quezon City local government has already filed charges against two persons who allegedly received a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with Mayor Joy Belmonte describing the booster shots as “greedy and selfish.”
More than 15 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses are set to arrive in Manila in the coming weeks.