Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Tuesday there is no need to place Baguio City under a stricter quarantine classification despite the increasing number of coronavirus disease cases.

In the "Laging Handa" public briefing, Magalong said the local government is "well capable" in managing the COVID-19 situation.

"There's no need for ECQ (enhanced community quaratine) or MECQ (modified enhanced community quaratine). We can maintain our present status of GCQ (general community quarantine)," he said.

While there were only 17 cases of UK COVID-19 variant that have so far been confirmed, Magalong expressed belief there could be "more than 100 UK variant" cases in the city.

But he added from about 94 to 100 new COVID-19 cases per day during the past two weeks, the number has declined to about 54 cases now. Celerina Monte/DMS