BY GENALYN KABILING
President Duterte is expected to announce Monday the new quarantine classification of Metro Manila and the rest of the country as the cases of infections continued to rise.
The President is scheduled to hold a meeting with several Cabinet members in Manila to tackle the government’s pandemic response and deliver his public address afterwards, according to his spokesman Harry Roque.
“Yes. Monday (in) Malago (clubhouse),” Roque said when asked about the President’s meeting and eventual announcement about the fresh quarantine level.
Metro Manila, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has been placed under less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of the month after a two-week reimposition of a strict coronavirus lockdown.
Other areas under GCQ are Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Quezon, Iloilo City, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, and Consolacion and Minglanilla in Cebu.
The modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the most relaxed in the government’s four lockdown levels, remained in effect in the rest of the country until Aug. 31.
As of Aug. 29, the country has recorded 213,131 cases of coronavirus with 3,419 deaths.
As the lockdown has been relaxed to jumpstart the sluggish economy, the government recently moved to refresh its strategy by stepping up testing, tracing, and testing efforts. Duterte announced that the government aims to test 3.3 million individuals by September.
Roque said a place must have a case doubling rate of 28 days before it could shift to the MGCQ level. At present, coronavirus cases in the National Capital Region have doubled to every 9 to 10 days.
Asked if the GCQ status will be retained, Roque said: “That will be a decision of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases) for which I cannot preempt them.”
The President is expected to return to Manila to attend meetings after staying in his home city of Davao since early August.
While in Davao, the President has been dogged by speculations about his health condition.
The 75-year-old leader had to make an appearance in a Facebook video to dispel talk that he supposedly flew to Singapore for a medical treatment, insisting he has been staying in his hometown all along.
In his televised address last week, Duterte admitted that his Barrett’s esophagus, a complication of the reflux disease, was nearing Stage 1 cancer. Doctors have advised him to stop drinking alcohol to avoid worsening his ailment.
The Palace was quick to point out that Duterte has no cancer and will tell the nation if he has a serious ailment.
Roque said the President has followed his doctor’s advice and adopted “clean living” by avoiding alcohol and cigarettes. (Genalyn Kabiling)Â
