Published July 12, 2021, 2:01 PM President Duterte’s economic manager said the government’s efforts should be geared at accelerating the country’s vaccine deployment and maintaining strict border controls as the quick-spreading Delta variant poses a threat in the Philippines. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua has thumbed down on Monday, July 12, the proposal to keep Metro Manila and other high-risk provinces under general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of the year. “We recognize the higher risk brought about by the delta variant,” Chua, head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), admitted. But he believes that there are other options to better manage the Delta variant threat without hampering the country’s economic recovery and aggravating hunger and other non-COVID health concerns.