News By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News Published April 23, 2021 1:38pm Experts from the OCTA Research Group on Friday warned against further easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the National Capital Region (NCR) even as the spread of the disease showed signs of slowing down. OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco said the reproduction number should be less than 1 for several weeks. A reproduction number of 1 or higher indicates sustained transmission of the virus. “We urge the national government, as one possible benchmark for changing quarantine levels, is not to exit MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine) until at least the R is less than 0.9 in a sustained manner,” Austriaco said in a webinar organized by the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.