PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will “carefully” study his options before deciding what to do with the enhanced community quarantine enforced in Luzon to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Malacañang said on Wednesday, April 22.
“The decision will be carefully studied as the lives of the people and the nation are at stake,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during a press briefing.
Senator Bong Go said Duterte was slated to announce the next action that the government will take with regards to the quarantine by April 23.
On Tuesday, April 21 Roque said Duterte is weighing whether to “maintain, relax or lift” Luzon’s quarantine, following the recommendations given to him by health experts and former heads of the Department of Health during Monday’s meeting.
“Ang option na lumabas kahapon ay ipagpatuloy, ‘di naman kaya i-relax o di naman kaya completely itigil ang ECQ sa iba’t ibang lugar ng bansa, depende sa dami ng kaso ng COVID-19 (The option being recommended yesterday was continue, relax or completely stop ECQ in different areas in the country, depending on the number of COVID-19 cases),” he said.
However, Roque revealed that experts lobbied for Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), and portions of Bulacan to remain under quarantine after April 30 due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in those areas.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, meanwhile, noted that the infection rate of COVID-19 has slowed down from three days to five days due to the quarantine.
“Actually, we are able to see, along with the private sector, that we have been able to slow down the infection rate of COVID-19. You can see that the rate of doubling is well… in some studies comparing the Philippines to other countries, we are between five to 10 days,” said Secretary to the Cabinet and IATF spokesman Karlo Nograles.
“Because some countries double (the infection rate) every three days, while other (countries) double between two days to three days. The Philippines is within the segment that its cases double every five to 10 days,” he added.
According to Nograles, this is one of the bases they will consider while deciding the next steps on what to do after April 30.
Roque also said that the Palace agrees with the statement of World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warning that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to come.
“We further agree with the WHO chief’s assertion that ‘it’s a virus that many people still don’t understand.’ It is for this reason that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has been in consultation with different experts across different sectors on how to best address the COVID-19 situation in the country,” Roque said.
He added, “He even set aside politics and met Health secretaries of previous administrations as he weighs the different options for our people.”
