President Rodrigo Duterte will issue new quarantine classifications for Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan and Rizal on Monday, Malacañang said on Saturday.
These areas were placed under modified enhanced community quarantine from Aug. 4 to 18 following a “time-out” plea by medical workers early August.
“Ang quarantine classification po… ay iaanunsiyo po ng ating presidente galing sa Davao sa darating po na Lunes,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.
He added that President Duterte’s decision would take into consideration the possibility of frontliners calling for another “time-out.”
Meanwhile, general community quarantine (GCQ) will be implemented in the provinces of Batangas, Nueva Ecija and Quezon; the cities of Iloilo, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Talisay; and the municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion in Cebu province.
The rest of the country will remain under modified GCQ until Aug. 31.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases released a resolution calling for strict enforcement of minimum health standards and uniform implementation in high-risk areas such as healthcare settings, marketplaces and government offices, among others.
IATF Resolution 63 also directed local government units to implement localized community quarantines and ensure the availability of isolation facilities.
“Immediate” facility-based isolation of returning overseas Filipinos; scaling up of local health system capacity, including designating more ventilators and beds for Covid-19 patients and submission of “complete and accurate” data through Covid-Kaya were also required by the IATF. John Ezekiel J. Hirro