ECQ May Be Reimposed in NCR, Other Areas if People Neglect Safety Protocols
Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) may be reimposed in some areas in the Philippines if the public neglects the safety COVID-19 protocols.
National Capital Region (NCR) shifted to general community quarantine (GCQ) since June 1, after the imposition of eased ECQ. Some provinces in Visayas and Mindanao have already mitigated to GCQ while others downgraded to most lenient modified GCQ.
“No place in the Philippines is under ECQ and MECQ. But if many of us do not follow health protocols or do not observe social distancing or physical distancing, wash hands, and continue to leave their homes for unnecessary reasons, we may revert to ECQ or MECQ,” said presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
However, Malacañang warned public that stricter community quarantine may be reimposed if they fail to observed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) safety protocols such as physical distancing and health standards.
Officials have advised the public not to be complacent even if the community quarantine measures have been relaxed. As such, the easing of the quarantine measures aims to reopen the economy gradually and not because the threat of COVID-19 is no longer present.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said that despite the rising cases of COVID-19, the safety measures being implemented by the government are working, based on the report of Philstar.
“The lowering of (positive) rate is in our hands. We have to be homeliners. If we do not need to go out, stay at home, wash your hands, wear face mask, use disinfectants and for employers, if possible, adopt alternative work arrangements,” he added.
He also claimed that the additional cases being reported are old ones and the increase of death toll is not that sharp. He added that the situation is not that bad as they didn’t see congestion in hospitals, adding that it’s a good sign for containing the virus.
“We do not see congestion in hospitals. That is a good indicator that we are containing this virus. Despite the late reporting, the situation is not that bad because we thought we are running out of hospital beds and hundreds are dying,” Año said.
“Overall, we can handle this situation and it does not mean we would go back to ECQ because based on our indicators, our health sector can respond to the patients of COVID,” he added.
However, as this was a good sign, capacity of hospitals can be filled up easily if public won’t take care, won’t follow health protocols, and the number of cases increase, Presidential spokesperson noted.
“We have 1,273 ICU (intensive care unit) beds, 820 of them vacant and 453 of them occupied. While this is a good sign, it can be filled up easily if we are not careful and we do not follow health protocols,” Roque said.
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