DOH waits to lift COVID emergency

DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Undersecretary Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the state of public health emergency could be lifted if the country’s COVID-19 cases are “manageable” and “hospitals are ready.”

“We said that before we can lift this public health emergency, apart from having a manageable number of cases and our hospitals are ready, we need a policy environment so they can prepare,” Vergeire also said in an ambush interview.

“Because in our policies for public health emergencies, there are attached policies that when we lift it, we won't be able to respond, like the authority of the director general to issue emergency useauthority for our newer technologies for COVID-19. We cannot do that if we lift it, so we need to prepare for it.” she said.

“So what we are doing now is transitioning so that, eventually, when we see that the cases are manageable, we have fixed the policies we need, ” she added.

Vergeire earlier said that the country may only declare an end to the state of public health emergency due to COVID-19 if infections and hospital utilization remained manageable.

The United States on April 11 officially ended its COVID-19 national health emergency after more than three years.

Then-President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of public health emergency in the Philippines in March 2020, the onset of the pandemic.

Under Proclamation 922, the state of public health emergency would remain in force and effect until lifted or withdrawn by the President.

Vergeire also said they were not recommending any restrictions for water activities in Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro amid the recent oil spill from a sunken motor tanker.

“Right now ang affected pa lang at ang tinitest natin yung may mga nasa shorelines naapektuhan ng oil spill. Puerto Galera is not included among those pero nagkaroon sila ng random sampling ng test across different areas where Puerto Galera is being included,” Vergeire said.