Beyond MECQ: Seeking hopeful pathways

After two weeks of the strictest lockdown phase, the National Capital Region Plus bubble has been placed under the less restrictive Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ). Also placed under MECQ were Abra province and Santiago City in Isabela.

More than a year after the entire Luzon was placed under ECQ for the first time, has the country made significant progress toward containing the contagion? The national health emergency has spawned a severe economic recession that snapped the country’s upward growth trajectory. On a third front, there is also a learning crisis as most schools continue to be on lockdown mode.

The problem is now more focused on the NCRPlus bubble where more than 80 percent of new cases have been registered since the onset of ECQ three weeks ago. The DOH announced last week the redeployment of 136 doctors and nurses from other regions in the country to seven DOH hospitals, two specialty hospitals and one regional hospital in Metro Manila — all of whom are dedicated to provide additional support to the COVID19 response.