Metro Manila barely made the cut for GCQ extension — Roque

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday said Metro Manila almost fell short of the requirements to remain under a general community quarantine (GCQ).

"If I were to be candid, Metro Manila barely made the cut and that's why we remain under GCQ. We're looking at a seven day doubling case rate, meaning it would take seven days before cases of COVID-19 double and [NCR] barely made it to seven days" Roque told CNN Philippines in a mix of Filipino and English.

He added that the National Capital Region's doubling rate is currently at 6.9%.

Roque explained that the critical care capacity in NCR was also a factor in deciding to remain under GCQ despite the the less than ideal doubling rate.

"One thing we have going for [Metro] Manila is we have about 30% critical care utilization rate which means we have 70% capacity," he said.

The presidential spokesperson added that Cebu City was placed under enhanced community quarantine because its doubling rate of COVID-19 is lower than seven days and because they do not have enough beds for critical care patients.

"The numbers in Cebu City are alarming, we have exceeded the numbers of COVID cases in Quezon City on a per day basis, meaning they now have the highest incidence of COVID cases in the country," Roque said.

He added that the rest of the Philippines's doubling rate for the diseases is "as high as 10 to 11 days," which is why a significant amount of the country is under a modified GCQ.

Metro Manila will remain under GCQ until the end of June, two weeks after the GCQ was announced to help restart the country's economy.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier warned the public that a return to ECQ was in the realm of possibility should the rate of infection speed up.

Experts from the University of the Philippines previously warned that a premature graduation to general community quarantine would result in 24,000 cases and 1,700 deaths by June 15.

That predicted case toll was breached by June 11, after GCQ was still implemented at the start of the month.

As of this writing, over 26,000 Filipinos have been infected with the coronavirus.

Almost 2,000 have died. — with reports from Franco Luna