Some provinces under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) will revert to “stricter” general community quarantine due to rising cases of the virus, Malacanang said Thursday.
However, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque did not identify which areas will shift to the stricter quarantine measures so as not to preempt President Rodrigo Duterte’s final decision.
“It’s difficult to speak because we are reserving the decision to be announced by the President,” Roque said, adding ““I can confirm that in some areas, they will go back to GCQ from MGCQ.”
“What’s important at this point is to confirm that there are areas which will have an escalation from MGCQ to GCQ,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, Metro Manila will remain under the GCQ status amid the detection of the new COVID-19 variant in the country, according to Metro Manila Council chairman and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez.
DFA under lockdown
The Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Pasay City will be under lock down starting today (Friday) until Feb. 2 after some of its officers tested positive for COVID-19.
“Sadly I must quarantine. I’m negative but the building and officers I met yesterday tested positive. We’re going into lockdown ‘til Tuesday when we test again,” DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a Twitter post.
‘Serious concern’
A group of researchers and professors described Thursday the continued increase in COVID-19 cases in Cebu as a cause “now (for) serious concern.”
The OCTA Research Group, which regularly issues projections on COVID-19, said in its latest update that while cases in Metro Manila and other areas were “leveling off, the province of Cebu, including Cebu City, continued to have an increasing trend in new cases.”
The group said that while Cebu was still not considered high risk, based on the attack rate or rate of cases compared to the population, the “significant increase in new cases” might cause problems for the health system in the province.
Baguio data
Baguio City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said they were standing by their report that there were only 18 cases on January 27 and swore by the integrity of their data on COVID-19 cases.
“We maintain that our data are accurate since these come from the ground and are subjected to validations. We have always maintained transparency in our reporting of cases as emphasized by our city mayor from the very start,” Galpo said.
Galpo said data on positive cases were generated from the two authorized molecular laboratories in the city, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and Parkway Medical and Diagnostic Center.
Meanwhile, as per DOH Central’s chart there were reportedly 121 cases, making Baguio City as the top in positive cases for the day.
Despite lapses
Malacanang hoped that Baguio City Mayor and tracing czar Benjamin Magalong would implement the law despite lapses in health protocols during the recent birthday celebration of social media personality Tim Yap in Baguio City.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said the President still trusts and respects Magalong despite the controversial health protocols issue.
“Let the process of the probe advance. The President trusts mayor Magalong, he has respect for mayor Magalong and when he says that the law will be implemented, trust that Mayor Magalong will implement the law,” Roque said in an online press briefing.
Metro Rail
A total 36 office personnel working at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3’s (MRT-3) depot near its North Avenue Station have tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement on Thursday, the MRT-3 said this comes after three more workers tested positive on Wednesday after mandatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests were administered to all MRT-3 depot personnel, adding to the 33 positive cases as of January 20.
“All personnel who have tested positive are already in quarantine,” the MRT-3 said.
Emergency use
The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, its director general, Dr. Eric Domingo, announced Thursday.
This makes AstraZeneca, a British pharmaceutical firm, the second company to secure an EUA in the Philippines after Pfizer BioNTech.
Domingo said AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which it developed with Oxford University, has posted an efficacy rate of 70 percent after the first dose.
“All conditions for EUA are present, and the benefit of using the vaccine outweighs potential risk,” Domingo said during the day’s Laging Handa briefing.