IT’S just day one of the re-imposed enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region and its adjoining provinces, but a top health official is already toying with the idea of extending the lockdown beyond April 4 as initially stated.
According to Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau director Dr. Alethea De Guzman, one week would not be enough to hit the target of pulling down the daily average tallies of COVID-19 infections, adding that re-imposing tight restrictions from March 29 to April 4 may only be able to trigger a slight decline but will eventually kick off again after this week.
At the Palace briefing, de Guzman also cited a projection by modeling tool FASSSTER or Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler, a COVID-19 modeling tool developed by the Ateneo de Manila University, showed a projection that sees cases in Metro Manila breaching the half-million mark in the event that the government decides to ease the restrictions again in the areas under ECQ.
Over 300,000 of the 721,892 infections nationwide as of Sunday afternoon are in Metro Manila.
“Kaya ‘yung isa sa pino-propose, ‘yung isa sa nirerekomenda ng ating eksperto ay baka kinakailangang i-extend dahil doon sa pag-extend ng ECQ, doon natin nakikita ‘yung tuloy tuloy na pagbaba ng kaso,” De Guzman said in a Palace briefing.