Watch the IATF Briefing with Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles for the latest news and information about government response to COVID-19 pandemic. #HealAsOne
Posted by Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines) on Friday, April 3, 2020
The Covid-19 task force will use five parameters in deciding whether to lift, partially lift, or extend the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Saturday.
These are:
1. Trends in the COVID-19 epidemiological curve, which include, among others, the doubling time, acceleration, or deceleration of new cases;
2. Capacity of the health care system, which includes, among others, the number and availability of quarantine, isolation, and treatment facilities; the capability to mount contact tracing; availability of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to frontliners, and the testing capacity of the country;
3. Social factors such as the distribution of cash assistance to poor families;
4. Economic factors; and
5. Security factors.
Nograles, the task force spokesman, said the president would make the final decision on what to do when the period of enhanced community quarantine ends on April 12, 2020.
Citing Resolution No. 19 of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Nograles said the Department of Health would convene all concerned agencies and to “finalize the aggregation and analysis of all relevant data applicable to the contained area, subject to the deliberation of the IATF and final determination by the President.”
The parameters were proposed by the IATF sub-technical working group (TWG) on Data Analytics, he said.
The sub-TWG will also use the five parameters to come up with recommendations on whether or not to implement a general or enhanced community quarantine in localities in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Several lawmakers, including Sen. Franklin Drilon and Rep. Joey Salceda, have called for a two-week extension of the quarantine.
Nograles said the extension was a huge debate in the IATF but the recommendation would be based on data.
But the data at hand was not yet conclusive, he said.
“Ang data po na iyan ay ina-analyze po ng ating mga eksperto, mga scientists, epidemiologists, doctors, kahit academe kasama po diyan. So pinag-aaralan nila kung ano ang laman ng data tapos nagbibigay sila ng rekomendasyon sa IATF … iyong data sa totoo lang ay hindi pa siya gaanong conclusive, kaya hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa makapagdesisyon ang IATF,” he said. (PressONE.ph)