DoH warns vs further easing MM quarantine

Caution against immediately relaxing the quarantine in Metro Manila was raised yesterday by the Department of Health (DOH), saying an “improving situation” is not a signal for complacency.

- MAYEN JAYMALIN

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the monitoring of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) has shown both “good indications” on the one hand and a “clustering of cases” on the other.

“We need to see that, on one hand, there are places here in Metro Manila where a clustering or rise in cases has been observed,” Vergeire said in Filipino at the latest “Laging Handa” public briefing.

As such, easing up to a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) in Metro Manila should require careful study by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF), she said.