An advisor on COVID-19 urged the government Wednesday to lower Metro Manila’s quarantine level and carry out localized lockdowns instead in areas with a clustering of cases, a step that mayors in the National Capital Region (NCR) said they were ready to take.
Metro Manila returned to an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the most stringent of four lockdown levels, that began on Aug. 6 and that will lapse on Aug. 20.
But despite the hard lockdown, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Metro Manila’s mobility rate increased by 39 percent compared to previous ECQ implementations.
The country on Wednesday recorded 11,085 new cases, down from 14,000 new daily infections two days before.
“It seems that the ECQ we implemented is helping. I hope the cases will keep going down and it might make it easier for the IATF to loosen our quarantine,” said Dr. Ted Herbosa, special adviser to the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
He said he believed Metro Manila should go down to a modified ECQ and that mayors would ramp up localized lockdowns, testing and tracing.
But the OCTA Research Group said the country’s reproduction rate continues to rise from 1.50 to 1.54.
The average daily attack rate (ADAR) in the country, on the other hand, was at 11.76 percent, OCTA said.
The research group said the ADAR in Metro Manila was at a critical level with 25.25 percent while utilization rate of ICU is at 69 percent even as its reproduction number went down to 1.78 from 1.9 recorded on Aug. 16.
OCTA said Makati City has a 44.47 percent ADAR with new cases up from 191 to 281 while Navotas City’s ADAR stood at 36.95 percent while its new cases rose from 92 to 100.
Metro Manila mayors said they are ready to enforce granular lockdowns if the IATF discontinues the ECQ in the NCR.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. said this was the consensus among the mayors who met with representatives from the Department of Health, National Economic and Development Authority, and other government officials on Wednesday.
Abalos said the Metro Manila Council, composed of the 17 mayors in Metro Manila, will defer to the decision of the IATF on the next community quarantine status to be implemented in the NCR.
This is the first time that the MMC didn’t come up with a resolution and submit recommendations regarding the next quarantine status.
“The local government units are at the forefront and they know what is really happening on the ground but we have to weigh both economic and health factors in our decision. We deem it best to leave the decision to the wisdom and judgement of the IATF,” said Abalos.
Earlier, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the biggest business group in the country, said a lockdown is not the only option to stop COVID-19 spread and may even aggravate the health and livelihood crisis as it has in other countries.
“COVID-19 pandemic is a pharmaceutical problem while a lockdown is a militaristic solution. Our economy is disfigured after many protracted lockdowns, yet the spread of COVID continues,” said PCCI acting president Edgardo G. Lacson.
He added that the Philippine economy has fallen into its deepest recession since 1947 largely due to the prolonged and harsh lockdown response.
“Mere mention of lockdown stokes greater fear than the infection from COVID-19. Another three-week lockdown could be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. It will wipe out the temporary economic gains we earned in between lockdowns and could stop the momentum of business from moving forward,” Lacson said.
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Tuesday said establishments in Metro Manila, such as malls and restaurants, should allow only fully vaccinated people to enter to create “safer bubbles.”
The Trade department, however, quickly shot down Concepcion’s proposal, saying such a move would be “discriminatory.”
Regardless of the community quarantine status after Aug. 20, the local government units will continue ramping up their Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) measures to further curb the spread of the virus, especially the highly transmissible Delta variant.
At the press briefing, Abalos also mentioned the possibility of granular lockdowns to be enforced by LGUs.
“If not ECQ, there will be granular lockdowns to be enforced by the local government units just like in Quezon City,” Abalos said.
Granular lockdowns are imposed on streets and barangay aimed at containing the clustering of COVID-19 cases.
During granular lockdown, the local government units will provide the necessary assistance to affected residents.
“The important thing is we will continue vaccinating the people to be able to protect them,” he added.
As of Aug. 16, 10.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Metro Manila.
Abalos said there was a need to maintain the pace of vaccination to lower the risk of COVID-19 infections in Metro Manila.
The Philippines logged 11,085 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,776,495.
The DOH also reported 161 new fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 30,623.
There were 11,628 recent recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 1,640,721.
There were 105,151 active cases, of which 96 percent were mild, 1 percent were asymptomatic, 0.7 percent were critical, 1.3 percent were severe, and 0.91 percent were moderate.
Nationwide, 68 percent of the ICU beds, 60 percent of the isolation beds, 66 percent of the ward beds, and 53 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 61 percent of the ICU beds, 58 percent of the isolation beds, 69 percent of the ward beds, and 59 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
Also on Wednesday, the DOH said it was conducting an “active contact tracing” to determine other possible Lambda variant cases in the country as well as to determine its source.
The DOH said earlier that the first Lambda variant case is a 35-year-old female. It was later reported that the Lambda variant patient was pregnant, a resident of Valladolid, Negros Occidental, with no history of travel.
Vergeire said both the patient and her infant were well.
The Lambda variant, first detected in Peru, was classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization on June 14.
Local infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante, however, said the Lambda variant has the potential to become a variant of concern since its mutations are similar to the more contagious Delta variant first detected in India.