THE National Capital Region (NCR) and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal will remain under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for another week beginning April 5, 2021, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has decided.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who announced the decision Saturday evening, April 3, 2021, said the quarantine level might be lowered to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) after one week if the prevention, detection, isolation, treat and reintegrate (PDITR) strategy results in a reduction of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
The NCR, or Metro Manila, and its four neighboring provinces, dubbed as NCR plus or Greater Manila Area, are under ECQ until Sunday, April 4 as part of efforts to slow down transmission of Covid-19.
With the additional week of lockdown, Roque said local government units (LGUs) in the affected area are expected to intensify PDITR efforts, including the conduct of house-to-house search for cases and close contacts of confirmed cases.
Each LGU is also required to conduct daily monitoring of cases, he added.
To cope with the surge in patients requiring hospital care, Roque said the government is set to open this week 110 additional beds for moderate to severe Covid-19 cases at the Quezon Institute.
Not less than 160 additional beds for moderate to severe cases will also be opened within the month, he added.
The NCR accounts for the biggest number of Covid-19 cases in the country. Infections in the four provinces are also rising.
As of April 2, 2021, the Department of Health (DOH) tracker showed that the NCR had 57,803 new cases in the last 14 days, or an average of 4,128 a day.
Among the cities and provinces, Cavite had the third highest number of new infections in the last 14 days at 6,340, after Quezon City and Manila which are both part of NCR.
Cavite was followed by Bulacan with 5,732 and Rizal with 5,146 new cases in the last two weeks. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)