Quarantine classification in Metro Manila still depends on criteria, says Palace
The quarantine classifiction in Metro Manila and other high risk areas in the country until December will depend on criteria set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Malacanang said on Monday.
This was after Rontgene Solante, a member of the Vaccine Epxert Panel, said the National Capital Region and other high-risk provinces should continue under the general community quarantine until December when 40 percent of the country's population are vaccinated.
"Dr. Solante is a true expert being listened to by the IATF. But the answer to that is, that still depends on our criteria. We look into the daily attack rate, the two-week daily average attack rate and the critical care capacity," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
"So, there's no crystal ball which can tell us what will be the situation in Metro Manila by December because we are still not yet sure that the Delta variant and Lambda variant cannot enter the country," he said.
The Delta and Lambda COVID-19 variants are said to be more infectious than other variants.
Metro Manila is under GCQ with some restrictions until June 15.
Meanwhile, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said the local government has reached 100 percent on vaccinating its target 96,610 population, which is about 70 percent of the city's entire population.
Of the totally vaccinated individuals, over 29,313 have received their second dose.
Zamora said they hope to complete all the second dose by August.
"So based on the data that we got now, we have surpassed the 100 percent and we are planning to continue vaccinating every single day until every San Juaneño is vaccinated for as long as they are within the required age and their health permits," he said.
"We are projecting that by the end of August, we should be done with our full doses for our 70 percent target population," Zamora added. Celerina Monte/DMS
