In a bid to prevent the spike of coronavirus infections and further enhance the capacity of the country’s health facilities, President Duterte has authorized the extension of the lockdown in Luzon until the end of the month.
The President approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Disease (IATF) to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by April 30,
according to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.
The enhanced community quarantine that compels Luzon residents to stay at home, is supposed to end on April 12.
“The enhanced community quarantine is up to April 30 11:59 p.m. This is the recommendation of the IATF which the President accepted and announced it Monday night. After his announcement, we verified it with him and the response is the enhanced community quarantine is hereby extended until April 30,” he said during a virtual press conference Tuesday.
“The President has decided to extend the ECQ until the 11:59 p.m. of April 30,” he said.
Nograles said all exemptions granted by the Office of the President or the IATF shall continue to be in effect for the duration of the extended quarantine. He said such extension of the ECQ shall be without prejudice to the discretion of the President to relax the implementation of the ECQ in some local jurisdictions, or the granting of exemptions in favor of certain sectors, as public health considerations and food security may warrant.
On Monday night, the President announced that the government is “inclined’ to extend the Luzon-wide lockdown until April 30. With the prolonged quarantine measures, Duterte also asked the Department of Finance to look for additional funds after admitting the government’s resources for COVID response would be insufficient.
As of April 6, the health authorities have reported 414 new cases of coronavirus that pushed the total of cases to 3,660. At least 163 died from the infection.
Nograles admitted that if the government would lift the quarantine prematurely, there would be an increase in coronavirus cases in the country.
He noted that the extension would help give the government a clearer picture of the “full impact” of the quarantine by mid-April. “We want to measure the full effect of the ECQ,” he said.
HEALTH FACILITIES UPGRADED
During the Luzon quarantine extension, Nograles said the government aims to step up efforts to enhance the health facilities and resources on testing, isolation and treatment of patients in the country.
With the upgrading of the country’s health facilities and testing capacity, he said they seeks to increase the testing capacity to reach 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day. He said the government aims hasten the release of the test results at least within 24 hours.
If more “strategic” testing centers are built across the country, he said the testing capacity can further increase to 13,000 to 20,000 tests a day by April 27.
“The IATF shall exhaust all means necessary to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity of the country, and for this reason hereby adopts and approves the Guidelines for COVID-19 Mass Testing as presented by the Department of Health,” he said.
He said mass testing however does not mean anyone can get tested. He said priority will be given to patients with severe and mild health conditions as well those asymtomatic with travel history and contact with a coronavirus case.
He said the government also intends to raise its capacity to isolate patients and conduct intensive contact tracing, and improve self-screening protocol of the public during the extended quarantine period.
“We want to see a significant decrease in cases of COVID-19,” he said in Filipino.
“If all of these can be done, the experts said we can push back the peak of COVID-19 in the Philippines as far as year 2021. Hopefully by that time, the world can find a vaccine. That’s the game plan,” he added. (Genalyn Kabiling)
