METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos announced that Metro Manila mayors will leave the decision on the next quarantine classification of the National Capital Region (NCR) to the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EMID).
According to Abalos, there exists many factors to be considered before a final decision on quarantine status could be made, which prompted the NCR mayors to defer to the IATF that important decision.
These factors include health and economic concerns deemed indispensable to monitor during a lockdown.
“The LGUs 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,” Abalos stated during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
While the final decision is put off, the MMDA chief emphasized that the NCR mayors will remain steadfast in vaccinating, testing, and improving their isolation facilities or commonly known as their Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) measures regardless of the quarantine classification the IATF will soon impose in the region.
“Whatever the decision of the IATF will be, the mayors committed to continue doubling up their vaccination efforts. Stricter implementation of health protocols and comprehensive testing and contact tracing will also be continuously imposed,” Abalos said.
When asked if the lockdown helped to mitigate the rise of cases, Abalos claimed that the surge would have been worse had the NCR mayors didn’t urge the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The MMDA chief further explained that unlike the previous lockdown, the government turned to be more proactive in its vaccination drive during the recently imposed ECQ, still prioritizing A1 (healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with co-morbidities), A4 (economic frontliners), and A5 (indigent population) categories.
Based on their records, Abalos said that the total doses given in the entire NCR is 10,716,042 as of August 16. Of these, 909,969 (90 percent) are senior citizens administered with their first vaccine shot while 774,066 (77 percent) were already fully vaccinated.
Furthermore, 46 percent or more than 1.7 million individuals with co-morbidities in the region managed to get their first jab while 35 percent or roughly 1.3 million received their complete vaccine shots.
Due to the amount of jabs provided, Abalos believed that the goal to curb the increase of positive cases across NCR will be achieved.
“Critical COVID-19 cases are lesser despite the rise in the number of active cases as majority of Metro Manila residents already received their jabs,” Abalos asserted.
“Sustaining the record-high 240,000 administered jabs last Aug. 12 in Metro Manila, which we did during this most recent ECQ, would lower risk classification of healthcare utilization rates in Metro Manila,” he added.
Amid the woes brought by the highly contagious variants in the country, the Metro Manila was placed under the strictest quarantine status since August 6 and is expected to end on August 20.