Malacañang said on Thursday it was premature to speculate whether or not President Rodrigo Duterte would downgrade the quarantine level in Metro Manila and 4 surrounding provinces.

The tally of new COVID-19 cases has been below the 10,000-mark lately, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.

• PH logs 8,767 new COVID-19 cases, over 17,000 fresh recoveries

"Pero siyempre hindi tayo satisfied diyan at tingnan muna natin hanggang matapos itong 2-week MECQ kung gaano talaga bababa ang mga kaso," he said in a press briefing.

"Sa ngayon po I think premature na mag-speculate kung ano magiging classification natin. Ang importante po palagi, tingnan iyong daily attack rate, 2-week average attack rate at saka iyong health care utilization rate."

(But of course, we are not satisfied there and let's see if cases will really go down until the 2-week MECQ ends. For now, I think it is premature to speculate what our classification will be. What is always imporatant is to look at the daily attack rate, the 2 week average attack rate and the health care utilization rate.)

Metro Manila and Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces are under modified enhanced community quarantine, the second toughest lockdown level, until April 30.