Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 4) — National officials will decide on Thursday if they will place Calabarzon under enhanced community quarantine or just some provinces in that region, Health Secretary Francisco Duque has announced.
Duque said the Department of Health was still waiting for the latest data from the COVID-19 monitoring tool FASSSTER to assess if they will recommend a hard lockdown on the region to the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
“We will find out tomorrow based on the latest data on the COVID situation and the FASSSTER projections,” the secretary told a hearing of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Health on Wednesday.
Duque said officials are evaluating whether to place the entire Calabarzon under ECQ or just a few areas such as Laguna, Cavite and Rizal.
Metro Manila is set to implement the strictest form of lockdown once again on August 6 until 20 to contain the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant. Based on the DOH’s latest data, Metro Manila has 47 local Delta cases – the highest in any region – while Calabarzon has 28. The DOH earlier said it is already assuming that there is community transmission of the Delta variant though there is still no evidence to say so.
