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MANILA – Malacañang on Monday lauded the modest decrease in Covid-19 infections in some parts of Metro Manila, describing it as “significant” amid the government’s efforts to slowdown the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
“Sa wakas, mukha pong bumababa na ang mga kaso sa Metro Manila. Ito po ay sang-ayon sa datos ng mga local government units (Finally, it looks like the cases in Metro Manila are going down. This is based on data from local government units),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press briefing.
Citing the official Facebook pages of concerned local government units (LGUs), Roque said new Covid-19 cases in Manila have gone down to 3,957 on April 18 compared to the 4,083 infections recorded on April 15.
In Muntinlupa, new infections decreased from 1,692 on April 15 to 1,578 on April 18 while Pasay City cases also declined from 480 on April 15 to 390 on April 18.
Valenzuela also logged lower new infections of 1,173 on April 17 compared to the 1,218 recorded on April 15.
Roque said it is a positive sign that measures made by LGUs to prevent, detect, isolate, treat, and reintegrate are working.
“These are modest decreases pero the first time, bumaba (it went down) so that is significant. Modest as they may be, for the first time siguro in about a month, at least nagkaroon ng signal na bumababa kahit paano (at least there is a signal that it’s going down somehow),” he said.
Roque reminded the public to continue to observe minimum health standards such as wearing of face masks and face shields, hand-washing, and physical distancing.
He also urged groups in priority categories to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
As of Sunday, a total of 1,477,757 individuals have been administered with Covid-19 vaccines. Of this, 1,279,223 have received the first dose while 198,534 have received the second dose.
NCR Plus, which refers to Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, are currently under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until the end of the month.
Besides NCR Plus, the City of Santiago in Isabela, Quirino (Region 2), and Abra in the Cordillera Administrative Region are also under MECQ.
Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya (Region 2), Batangas and Quezon (Region 4-A), Tacloban City (Region 8), Iligan City (Region 10), Davao City (Region 11), and Lanao del Sur (BARMM) will be under general community quarantine (GCQ).
The rest of the Philippines will be under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
On Monday, health authorities recorded a total of 9,628 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of active cases in the country to 141,375. (PNA)
