Metro Manila may be placed under the less restrictive general community quarantine after May 15 if the significant gains in the government’s battle against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) continues, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said.
The most important gauge is the number of Covid cases daily, Ano said.
He said the situation is starting to “improve,” with the number of persons being tested for the virus doubling every day.
“It’s possible,” he responded when asked if Metro Manila will be under a general community quarantine. “We are monitoring the gains we currently have now.”
A general community quarantine allows a freer movement of people and the possible opening of more establishments, offering food and other essential goods. Ano stressed that mass testing must continue, and the government must test at least 13,000 persons a day to ensure that those infected are identified, segregated and treated.
Ano also ordered all local government units to form their own Covid task force.
The local task force will be headed by local chief executives, with members drawn from the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, the disaster risk reduction office, and health offices.
The local task force will be divided into four teams that will handle contact tracing, patient management and monitoring, psychosocial counselling, and logistical and resource management. “Should the community quarantine be lifted for good after May 15, it will be hard for the national task force to monitor everyone so we really needed this local task force,” Ano said.
Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay has urged the government to come up with guidelines or exit plan once the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted on May 15.
Binay asked the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to craft a “blue book” to guide public on the new normal.
“We are asking the people to embrace the new normal. But the question: Is the government and the private sector ready for the new normal?” Binay said.
She said that even before May 15, the IATF should share with the public its roadmap for transitioning to the new normal.
“It’s a given that we will have to live with the virus everyday in our lives until a vaccine is available,” the senator said.
Such a handbook will guide the public on what to expect “once restrictions in travelling and going to work are relaxed, and how to manage people’s expectations,” Binay said.
A blue book will also serve as “a handy instruction manual for essential businesses on how to retrofit their establishments to the new normal,” she said.
She said the current IATF guidelines has enough content to be transposed into an illustrated format which can serve as a handbook for public transport operators, building management firms, schools, restaurants, hotels, shops, amusement and entertainment centres.
Binay said the government would be remiss if it lifts the lockdown without the necessary safety nets to control disease transmission, such as minimising risks in vulnerable areas like public markets, trains and buses, workplaces, including the health system’s capacity to test, isolate and treat every Covid-19 case, and trace every contact.
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