METRO Manila and areas under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) will experience prolonged quarantine in accordance with health standards approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Sunday.
President Duterte on Friday extended the ECQ to May 15 in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon; provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Occidental, Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Catanduanes, Antique, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao de Oro, and Davao del Norte; and Cebu and Davao cities. However, some of these areas will be subject to revaluation on April 30. Duterte first imposed a Luzon-wide ECQ which was supposed to end originally on April 15 but extended to April 30.
Año, in a phone interview, said the ECQ in these areas will not be automatically lifted after May 15 even if their health situation improves.
He said the ECQ must first be lowered to “general community quarantine” (GCQ) to monitor the “gains’ from the ECQ.
“Under GCQ, many are already relaxed, including work which is already allowed, except going to mass, going to malls, large gatherings, dining in restaurants, jeepney transportation. But the rest is relaxed, people can already go to work,” he added.
Año said that while the COVID-19 situation has been improving, there is still a need to improve the country’s testing capacity to up to 13,000 tests a day.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the extended ECQ in areas with high cases of virus infection could last until June “at the earliest” when at least a cure is developed by Japan.
Lacson noted a statement of Health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire that an agreement has been reached by the Philippines and Japanese governments for the potential testing of the Japanese flu drug Avigan to treat COVID-19 patients.
A report by Agence France-Presse said Avigan, the brand name of the drug favipiravir, has been approved for use in flu outbreaks and was also used to treat Ebola.
Duterte, after participating in a special virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Nations and its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea on COVID-19 on April 15, said the Philippines is ready to participate in clinical trials and medical studies of potential vaccines and medicines such as Avigan.
China’s ministry of science and technology said a trial involving 80 cases conducted by a hospital in Shenzhen and a study of 120 cases led by Wuhan University’s Zhongnan Hospital both showed the drug shortened the recovery time for patients.
In Japan, it was used for flu outbreaks not effectively addressed by other medications. It is not available on the market and can only be manufactured and distributed at the request of the Japanese government, the AFP report added.
“Ang sinasabi nila na medyo substantial ang results, kung makakagamot talaga ng COVID, June. ‘Yan ang earliest. So kung ‘yan ang pagbabatayan natin, I cannot see how we can lift the lockdown earlier than June,” Lacson told radio dzBB.
MONDAY MEETING
The IATF-EID is set to meet again today to discuss policies and guidelines that would be implemented under the GCQ in several parts of the country starting May 1, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
He said social distancing, wearing of masks, and personal hygiene practices would continue to be observed under a GCQ.
He said the Department of Health would have guidelines for hospitals and testing in areas under the general quarantine, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) would present protocols in connection with the resumption of work and the employees’ welfare and compensation, and the Department of Trade and Industry will submit protocols affecting businesses.
He said the Department of Transportation would come up with the guidelines on the resumption of public transportation, which would include reducing passengers down to 50 percent of the capacity of the vehicles. He added public utility jeepneys would not be allowed to operate yet due to social distancing and other personal hygiene practices that need to be observed.
Roque said communities under the ECQ would need to take note of protocols to be implemented in areas under the GCQ once their places they are in are reclassified as moderate or low-risk areas.
Duterte has extended the enhanced community quarantine from April 30 to May 15 in Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions, and the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Albay, and Catanduanes which have been classified as “high-risk” areas.
The President also placed under the enhanced community quarantine the provinces of Benguet, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Antique, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Cebu, Davao del Norte, and Davao de Oro and the cities of Cebu and Davao until May 15 pending further review and assessment of the situation in the said areas until April 30. If the Covid-19 situation improves, the “high risk” classification can be reduced to “moderate risk” or “low risk.”
Areas classified as “moderate risk” or “low risk” will be placed under general community quarantine starting May 1.
Under modified “general” quarantine, partial operations of the public transportation capacity would be allowed along with the resumption of work in certain industries and the partial operation of certain essential establishments in malls.
Stores included in the “amusement and entertainment sector” including those that cater to children, and those involved in the tourism industry will not be allowed to resume operations for now.
COVID-19 BUDGET
Roque said government is preparing the “first COVID-19 national budget” for 2021 along with a draft for another possible supplemental budget.
He said the 2021 budget would be the “medium-term solution” to cushion the impact of the coronavirus and would be known as the “first COVID-19 budget” of government.
Roque also said that this also means that certain programs and projects may be set aside in favor of measures that would address the impacts of the coronavirus crisis.
Roque said the President will also ask Congress to pass another supplemental budget to boost the government’s response to the COVD-19 crisis this year.
He said a proposal for the additional budget proposal has already been readied but said he was not yet authorized to make it public.
President Duterte under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act had been given access to more than P200 billion of funds and had been given authority to realign the 2020 budget if needed to address the coronavirus disease and ease its burden on the public through different forms of subsidy and aid.
Roque said discussions for the supplemental budget, along with the 2021 budget, would be discussed next week. He said the focus of the IATF this week are the different protocols on the general community quarantine and the “new normal” or practices ad activities that can be expected starting May 1.
AMELIORATION AND AID
Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista reassured the public that the government has funds set aside from the implementation of the social amelioration program for May.
Bautista admits that funds for the country’s social amelioration program are now running low and there would be further discussions in the IATF on its implementation amid the extension of the lockdown in some areas until May 15 and its modification in certain areas.
Roque on Friday said poor families living in the areas under the enhanced community quarantine areas will continue to receive the SAP while those living in places where the general community quarantine will be implemented may no longer be eligible for the second wave of cash aid.
Bautista said there is nothing final yet but admitted that one option being discussed is limiting the implementation of the SAP only to beneficiaries in ECQ areas “in consideration with the budget availability.”
He said that with the resumption of economic activities in the areas under the general community quarantine, people there would be able to resume work and earn a living for their families.
INFORMATION LEAK
Roque said the IATF will look into a “leak” of joint resolutions and internal memorandum to the public.
He said some documents had made it to the social media even before President Duterte had approved or announced it
“It’s a management issue that the IATF will address,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
He added that these leaks are also one of the reasons why Malacanang had centralized the information system on the COVID-19.
Roque said when the government aired the recorded meeting of the IATF with the President, Duterte’s instructions and his announcement on the decision about the lockdown on Friday, some parts of the IATF resolution on the extension of ECQ in some areas and its relaxing into a general community quarantine (GCQ) in other places had already went viral online on Thursday night. — with Raymond Africa and Jocelyn Montemayor
