OCTA Research fellow Guido David on Thursday said the general community quarantine (GCQ) status in Metro Manila should be retained until the daily number of COVID-19 cases reach the pre-surge level.

During the virtual ''Laging Handa'' public briefing, David said NCR still recorded less than 700 COVID-19 cases per day which is still higher than the 500 cases per day during the pre-surge.

"Hopefully within one to two weeks, we can reach that level but of course we want that the number will be lower than (500) once we reach the pre-surge levels," he said.

"Right now, the quarantine restriction is still fine and can be retained but we can re-evaluate once we see the status and improvement of the situation," he added.

Last June 14, President Rodrigo Duterte placed Metro Manila and Bulacan under GCQ with some restrictions.The provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite are under GCQ "with heightened restrictions" until the end of the month.

More than 20 provinces and cities in the country were placed under modified enhanced community quarantine, the second most restrictive quarantine classification. Ella Dionisio/DMS