Despite the rising cases of COVID-19 and emerging mutations and variants, health secretary Francisco Duque believes that Metro Manila, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, is ready to relax its community quarantine.

In an interview on CNN Philippines, Duque said that the National Capital Region is ready for a modified general community quarantine or MGCQ.

“I think we are ready. I can say that because after one year, we have managed to keep our infection rate manageable… It is at a level that has not overwhelmed the healthcare system,” he told CNN Philippines.

Duque lauded the local government units in controlling and managing the number of COVID-19 cases. There was also no surge observed during the holidays and even the controversial Feast of the Black Nazarene.

He also stressed that localized lockdowns, not sweeping community quarantines, are “the way to go.”

“You cannot discount the fact that you will have some spikes. Now we see that happening in Pasay, in Navotas, but I think the interventions of early detection, isolation, treatment, and re-integration strategies are very much in place,” Duque said.

Metro Manila Mayors and economic managers have agreed to shift to MGCQ starting next month despite warning from experts that it could trigger a spike or surge in new coronavirus cases.

“We really have to move towards risk mitigation rather than risk aversion. Risk mitigation with the goal of, of course, keeping the infection rate low and when the infection rate is low, the chances for mutation are also low,” he said.

When asked if the healthcare system is ready just in case, a surge of COVID-19 cases happen again.

“So far sa tingin natin kakayanin, kakayanin naman. We will never be able to know until that situation actually evolves, whether the system is ready. We’ll see… We can always escalate if the data support escalation given the metric of healthcare utilization rate, the two-week average daily attack rate, et cetera,” he said.

Duque also rejected proposals to defer the MGCQ shift pending the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Dapat ito kasi sabay sabay hanggang sa maaari. Hindi puwede sequential, ‘Ito mauuna ‘yung bakuna, tapos susunod ‘yung bukas ng ekonomiya.’ That’s not the way, it’s too narrow a perspective, I feel. This is my personal opinion,” Duque said. (TDT)

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