The OCTA Research Group said it can already recommend the easing of community quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and nearby provinces by May 15 as a downtrend in coronavirus infections is being observed.
According to OCTA, the average number of daily COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region is expected to go down up to 1,700 by May 14. This coincides with the expiration of the modified enhanced community quarantine in NCR Plus.
“With the current development and downward trend, if this continues until the end of this week, definitely it can be considered to downgrade to GCQ ‘yung quarantine classification,” said OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David.
Some local chief executives in Metro Manila have said they are in favor of easing to GCQ by mid-May.
However, David said the bubble setup over NCR Plus even after the easing of restrictions, considering that some areas have unstable virus trends.
“One feature that I would like to retain is we can still have the bubble. It could be a GCQ bubble because cases are still significant inside the bubble and as you mentioned, may ibang LGUs pa [There are still some LGUs] with an unstable trend,” he added.
