TWO Palace officials on Tuesday, April 21, said experts have recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte three options: maintain or extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, impose a modified quarantine, or lift the restrictions in certain areas.
A total lockdown was not among the recommendations, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Cabinet Secretary Karlo said in their separate virtual press conferences Tuesday.
The President may announce his decision later Tuesday or on April 30, Roque said.
Initially, Roque said stringent quarantine rules may be maintained in areas with high incidence of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) such as the National Capital Region, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), parts of Bulacan, Cebu and Davao City.
Nograles, who is also the spokesperson for the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the term “total lockdown” is not in the vocabulary of the task force.
“No, hindi namin pinag-usapan...wala kasi sa vocabulary namin yung total lockdown, di ba? So, even ang discipline namin sa IATF ay quarantine - community quarantine, modified, or enhanced, or general community quarantine. So we never use yung lockdown,” Nograles said in his virtual press conference Tuesday morning.
Nograles also said President Rodrigo Duterte will not declare a martial law.
He said a modified ECQ will limit the lockdown in certain areas based on the number of Covid-19 cases and the risk level, age, health conditions, and industries.
The IATF is discussing which industries may be allowed to operate provided social distancing is observed and only a certain percentage of the workforce will be allowed to report.
Nograles also said the task force is discussing which public transportation system may be allowed to resume.
The task force is scheduled to present its recommendations to the President on Wednesday, April 22. Proposed guidelines for the “new normal” will also be presented by the IATF Technical Working Group for Anticipatory and Forward Planning.
Roque, in a separate virtual press conference Tuesday noon, said the President will have to achieve a balance between the people’s “karapatang mabuhay at karapatang magkaroon ng hanapbuhay” (right to live and right to earn a living).
The President met with health experts and Cabinet members for about five hours Monday.
Roque said the President threw these questions at the experts:
What will happen if he lifts ECQ to certain kinds of people?
What good will lifting or relaxing ECQ give to certain sectors of society?
How many people will die if ECQ is lifted, modified or retained?
Is there a possibility of a second wave of Covid if ECQ is relaxed or lifted?
If people are allowed to go out of their homes, is there a danger for the disease to spike anew or is this just really round one of Covid?
Roque said the President, however, noted that recoveries have outnumbered mortalities.
As of April 20, confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infections in the country reached 6,459, including 428 patients who had died and 613 who have recovered.
Experts who briefed President Duterte on Monday included former Health secretaries Janet Garin, Esperanza Cabral and Jaime Galvez Tan.
Others invited were Susan Mercado, Anthony Leachon, Ana Lisa Ong Lim, Marissa Alejandria, Katherine Ann Reyes, Alfredo Mahar Lagmay.
Also in attendance were Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, National Task Force Covid-19 chief implementor Carlito Galvez Jr., acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III along with Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Globally, the novel coronavirus or Sars-CoV-2 has infected more than 2.3 million people as of April 20, according to the World Health Organization. Of the total, 157,847 had died. (MVI/Jove Moya/SunStar Philippines)