DoH to assist LGU during lockdown

This is where our officials will go to various areas, barangays, municipalities to check and assess that LGU should ensure that a lockdown is imposed if needed

The Department of Health (DoH) on Monday said that it will be implementing more interventions in the local government units within the two-week lockdown to address the spike of cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that through the Coordinated Operations to Defeat the pandemic (CODE) officials will be going to different local government units to assist in their operations.

Vergeire said that this will help to control the increasing transmission of cases found in most localities.

“This is where our officials will go to various areas, barangays, municipalities to check and assess that LGUs should ensure that a lockdown is imposed if needed,” she said.

It will also include intensifying the contact tracing efforts and ensuring that those under home quarantine are compliant with the guidelines.

As of the latest data, Vergeire said that the clustering of cases has increased to 887 where 741 are found within communities while others were from jails, hospitals, and workplaces.

National Task Force chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez said that cases reported at present are mostly within families.

“Patients nowadays are mostly not just one of the family members but all of them. Virus transmission is now happening within offices and family gatherings,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said that during the two-week lockdown, different agencies will also be discussing the provision of adding more budget to give health workers both in the public and private sectors with more incentives.

The Filipino Nurses United earlier called for equal distribution on the hike of salaries citing that nurses in private sectors and local government units get lower wages than public hospital nurses.

They said it is also a way to attract more health workers to join and apply for existing positions in augmenting the health system capacity among hospitals.

To date, more than 100,000 Filipinos have been infected by the coronavirus disease with recoveries at 65,557 and a total death toll of 2,059.