Interior and Local Government Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Bernardo Florece Jr. said the effect of the nearly two-week implementation of the enhance community quarantine (ECQ) on the National Capital Region and four nearby provinces is not yet felt.

"For me, we haven't felt the intervention since we had the ECQ. It should be at least two weeks. Although we started last March 29, it is now almost two weeks but we haven't really felt the effect," Florece told Teleradyo Saturday.

"So probably another week would be enough. But at the end of the day, the members of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) are debating about this and they are studying their recommendation. But we still base it on scientific data available," he added.

Florece said the number of COVID-19 cases as well as those who were hospitalized should decrease as the result of the ECQ.

"First, the reproduction number should decline as well as the number of fatalities and the patients hospitalized (because of COVID-19)," he said.

Florece said as part of the government's effort to further prevent the spread of the virus, the Department of Labor (DOLE) is set to hire at at least 4,000 contact tracers for National Capital Region.

" The assistance of (Labor)Secretary (Silvestre) Bello (III) is good news under their (program). They will hire at least 4,000 additional contact tracers to help here in NCR, so it will be a big help. But their salary, I think it's P16,000," he said. Robina Asido/DMS