マニラ首都圏は9月15日まで、2番目に厳しい警戒レベルであるMECQ下に置かれることが決定しました。

これにより屋内および屋外での飲食店経営、美容院、エステティックサロン、ネイルスパなどのパーソナルケアサービスは引き続き禁止とされます。宗教活動は、オンラインビデオによって配信されるようです。他にも葬儀については、故人がコロナウイルス 以外の原因で死亡した場合に限り、近親者のみ出席できます。ただし、故人との関係を示す証拠を提示する必要があり、感染対策の最低基準を遵守しなければならないとのことです。

この発表は、マニラ首都圏がGCQに緩和されようとしていた数時間前に行われたもので、国民にとっては「寝耳に水」だったようです。

首都圏は、デルタ株により感染者が増加している地域の一つです。フィリピンではここ数週間1日の感染者数が過去最高を更新していて、212万人以上の症例を記録し、東南アジア最悪の状況となっています。

過去30日間の1日当たりの患者数だけで、国全体の5分の1以上を占めており、死亡者数は3万4千人を超えています。

また、人口1億900万人のうち、約1,520万人がワクチン接種を完了していますが、まだ数百万人が感染の危険にさらされています。

MECQが長引くことで多くの企業やサービスが打撃を受けますが、それ以上に感染状況が最悪のようです。どちらを優先しても厳しい状況でしょう。ワクチン接種をとにかく進め、国民の命を守ることに徹して欲しいです。

以下、ABS-CBN NEWSより

Gov’t backtracks: Metro Manila to stay under MECQ, GCQ with alert levels deferred

MANILA (UPDATE) — Metro Manila will stay under the second strictest lockdown level, modified enhanced community quarantine, until Sept. 15 as government postponed the region’s supposed shift to a looser lockdown, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

The Palace earlier announced that the capital region’s 13 million people would shift to general community quarantine with alert level system from Sept. 8 to 30.

The inter-agency task force on COVID-19 “deferred the pilot implementation” of this shift, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.

“Metro Manila’s current risk classification as Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) shall be maintained until September 15, 2021, or until the pilot GCQ with Alert Level System is implemented, whichever comes first,” he said in a statement.

Indoor and al-fresco dine-in services, and personal care services including beauty salons, beauty parlors and nail spas shall remain prohibited, Roque said.

Religious services, on the other hand, performed through online video recording and transmission shall be allowed, he said.

Meanwhile, immediate family members are allowed to attend necrological services, wakes, inurnment and funerals as long as the deceased died of non-COVID-19 causes, added the Palace official.

However, they need to show satisfactory proof of their relationship with the deceased and have to comply with the minimum public health standards, he said.

The announcement came just hours before Metro Manila was supposed to shift to GCQ with granular lockdowns, which government hoped would better manage coronavirus infections and support the economy.

The capital region is among areas in the country that have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The Philippines has been seeing new record highs in daily tallies in recent weeks and has recorded over 2.12 million cases, among the worst outbreaks in Southeast Asia.

Daily cases in the past 30 days alone accounted for more than a fifth of the country’s total, while deaths have exceeded 34,000.

The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated about 15.2 million of its 109 million people against COVID-19, leaving millions still vulnerable.