DOF CHIEF FOR MORE RELAXED METRO QUARANTINE
Although President Duterte has decided to keep Metro Manila under general community quarantine for two more weeks, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has called for further relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in the metropolis and in the Calabarzon region to make way for the opening of the economy.
Dominguez, in a meeting with President Duterte on Monday, said Metro Manila and the Cavite-laguna-batangas-rizal-quezon region should move to modified general community quarantine as soon as possible.
People, he said, have to accept that the new coronavirus is not going away anytime soon.
‘New reality’
“So we have to face the new reality. The reality today is that the virus is not going to go away. And we will have to live with it for a long period of time,” Dominguez said.
“And I really believe we really should begin opening,” he added.
Dominguez noted that 67 percent of industries and businesses in the country are in Metro Manila and Calabarzon.
“That should move more to [modified general community quarantine] as quickly as possible because people have to start working,” he said.
Dominguez, however, recommended a strict watch for infections in the two regions, with barangays and businesses reporting cases to be put on targeted lockdown.
“[D]o it on a place-to-place [basis]. And do it also on a company-to-company basis. So if the company has a big spike, close it down also,” Dominguez said.
But Mr. Duterte, giving more weight to public health, announced late Tuesday that Metro Manila would stay under general community quarantine until July 15 and that Cebu City, which he described in a televised address as the new hot spot for COVID-19, the severe
[D]o it on a place-to-place [basis]. And do it also on a company-to-company basis. So if the company has a big spike, close it down also
respiratory ailment caused by the new coronavirus, would remain under enhanced community quarantine.
Enhanced community quarantine is stringent lockdown, and Mr. Duterte blamed its retention in Cebu to the city residents’ infraction of public health measures.
COVID hot spot
“Cebu is now the hot spot for COVID. Why? Many of you do not follow [the rules]. So don’t get mad at me,” Mr. Duterte said.
Also placed under general community quarantine are Benguet, Cavite, Rizal, Lapulapu City, Mandaue City, Leyte, Ormoc, Southern Leyte, Talisay City, Minglanilla and Consolacion.
Talisay City in Cebu province used to be under modified enhanced general community quarantine, the second-highest quarantine level.
Placed under modified general community quarantine were Abra, Baguio City, Ifugao,
Kalinga, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Angeles City, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Lucena City, Palawan, Puerto Princesa.
Also placed on that quarantine level were Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Naga City, Capiz, Iloilo, Iloilo City, Negros Occidental, Bacolod City, Bohol, Negros Oriental, the rest of Cebu province, Tacloban City, Western Samar, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao City, Davao de Oro, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Butuan City, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
The rest of the country was considered low risk. Even then, Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said residents of those places should observe minimum health standards like wearing protective masks and physical distancing.
On all quarantine levels, people must stay at home except for essential movement like going to work and buying necessities, Vergeire said.
Moving toward opening
The government shut down most businesses in March and ordered the people to stay at home to halt the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, but has partially reopened the economy from June 1 as unemployment soared and massive state funds for cash and food aid for the poor dwindled.
Tuesday’s decision does not mean Dominguez’s call for a full return to economic activity has fallen on deaf ears.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the administration was moving toward opening the economy but was following World Health Organization (WHO) guidance against rushing to reopening that could lead to resurgence of the virus.
He said the government was also heeding the WHO advice that there was no need for Metro Manila to go back to a stricter level of quarantine.
“So we’re moving toward what Secretary Dominguez said and that was a fundamental change in assumptions in fact,”
Roque said in a television interview.
He said the President and the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases—the temporary government body overseeing the administration’s coronavirus response—agreed with the economic team that handling the crisis had gone past the point of giving all priority to the people’s health and that it was now time to move toward opening the economy so that the people could go back to work.
Next few weeks crucial
On Wednesday, the WHO urged the Philippine government, as it moved to reopen its economy, to strengthen its public health and surveillance systems because the next few weeks would be crucial to the country’s efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
Takeshi Kasai, the WHO Western Pacific regional director, said that while the Philippines has avoided a significant number of infections and deaths by going on lockdown early, cases have been rising in the country as it gradually eases quarantine measures.
“Unfortunately, data shows there’s ongoing infections. And after gradually easing lockdown, we’re also carefully monitoring the data and then we’re seeing . . . [an] early signal, or it may not, but for example the number of the hospital occupancy started slightly going up,” Kasai said at the joint Who-world Economic Forum briefing.
“I think it’s going to be a very important few weeks from now on,” Kasai said.
Since the government began easing quarantine restrictions on May 15, the country has logged 25,561 coronavirus infections, including the 999 additional cases recorded Wednesday.
The figure represents 66 percent of the current national caseload of 38,511.
Of the additional cases, 595 were patients who tested positive for the coronavirus in the last three days and 404 were people who tested positive four days ago or earlier.
The Department of Health reported that 205 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 10,438. The death toll, however, rose to 1,270 with the deaths of four more patients.
Carlos Dominguez III Finance Secretary