Sunday, April 5, 2020
Rizal province on total lockdown starting April 6 to curtail COVID-19 spread
Rizal province will be on total lockdown starting Monday, April 6, to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Acting Rizal Governor Reynaldo San Juan issued Executive Order 14 declaring a total lockdown in the entire province and restricting entry into and from its borders to address the rising cases of the coronavirus disease.
Those who will be exempted from the restriction are only those working in supermarkets, markets, hospitals, food preparation, and delivery, transport delivery service, agricultural supply, and other working business establishments allowed by the national government to operate.
Authorized government officials, health workers, media personnel, repatriated OFWs, and religious ministers will also be allowed entry and will be subjected to mandatory thermal scanning or temperature check.
Only transport vehicles provided by local government units to frontliners and critical services workers can operate, with observation of strict physical distancing measures.
Checkpoints are also established 24/7 in the borders of the province, in accordance with the guidelines of the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield.
San Juan noted that despite the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine, residents have not been taking the order seriously.
"It is for the protection of the province. We want to ensure the safety of our people. Considerations have already been done since the implementation of the community quarantine but people do not take it seriously," he told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Weekend.
"Some residents of Rizal, lumalabas pa rin po sa kanilang tahanan. Ang naka-set sa guidelines, only those exempted ang pwedeng lumabas. 'Yung mga kailangan lang gawin sa labas tulad ng pagbili ng pagkain at basic commodities," San Juan added.
[Translation: Some residents of Rizal are still going out of their homes. As stated in the guidelines, only those who are exempted can go out. Those who need to run errands such as buying of food and basic commodities.]
San Juan did not indicate how long the lockdown will last.
Rizal province rallied next to Metro Manila with the highest number of COVID-19 with 98 cases as of Sunday morning.
It is part of Luzon where an enhanced community quarantine is in effect since March 16, 2020.
The Philippines has 3,094 total COVID-19 cases to date with 144 deaths and 57 recoveries.
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/regional/2020/4/5/rizal-province-lockdown-covid-19.html
Acting Rizal Governor Reynaldo San Juan issued Executive Order 14 declaring a total lockdown in the entire province and restricting entry into and from its borders to address the rising cases of the coronavirus disease.
Authorized government officials, health workers, media personnel, repatriated OFWs, and religious ministers will also be allowed entry and will be subjected to mandatory thermal scanning or temperature check.
Only transport vehicles provided by local government units to frontliners and critical services workers can operate, with observation of strict physical distancing measures.
Checkpoints are also established 24/7 in the borders of the province, in accordance with the guidelines of the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield.
San Juan noted that despite the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine, residents have not been taking the order seriously.
"It is for the protection of the province. We want to ensure the safety of our people. Considerations have already been done since the implementation of the community quarantine but people do not take it seriously," he told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Weekend.
"Some residents of Rizal, lumalabas pa rin po sa kanilang tahanan. Ang naka-set sa guidelines, only those exempted ang pwedeng lumabas. 'Yung mga kailangan lang gawin sa labas tulad ng pagbili ng pagkain at basic commodities," San Juan added.
[Translation: Some residents of Rizal are still going out of their homes. As stated in the guidelines, only those who are exempted can go out. Those who need to run errands such as buying of food and basic commodities.]
San Juan did not indicate how long the lockdown will last.
Rizal province rallied next to Metro Manila with the highest number of COVID-19 with 98 cases as of Sunday morning.
It is part of Luzon where an enhanced community quarantine is in effect since March 16, 2020.
The Philippines has 3,094 total COVID-19 cases to date with 144 deaths and 57 recoveries.
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/regional/2020/4/5/rizal-province-lockdown-covid-19.html
Government in no rush to end Luzon lockdown
The Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine set to end on April 12 may have to be extended for 15 to 20 more days to sustain its gains, the head of the national task force (NTF) against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) said on Saturday.
Task force chief Carlito Galvez Jr., who is also the presidential peace adviser, said the timing of the lifting of the quarantine was being discussed with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), which makes the policies to be implemented by the NTF during the national health emergency.
“It’s quite difficult to rush to normalcy and the problem comes back. What we are considering is to impose this in one go, perhaps extend it for another 15 or maybe 20 more days so we can sustain its positive impact,” he said in a radio interview.
An ill-timed termination of the quarantine period may spoil the government’s goal of “flattening the curve,” or controlling the contagion, Galvez said.
The DOH reported that 3,094 people had been afflicted with COVID-19, including 144 who had died and 57 who had recovered as of Saturday.
“It will be premature if we make the announcement at this time. We cannot preempt the decision of the President,” Galvez said.
Partial or total lifting?
Takeshi Kasai, Western Pacific regional director for the World Health Organization had also cautioned against rushing to end the quarantine and halt other public health regulations against COVID-19.
“We may have to peel one by one and not just immediately lift those public health measures which were bundled with the lockdown to balance and control the disease and to bring society back to normal,” he said.
Some lawmakers and business groups have called for an extension or gradual lifting of the restrictions.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the IATF-EID spokesperson, said it had approved the parameters proposed by a subtechnical working group for deciding whether to totally or partially lift or extend the Luzon lockdown.
The parameters include the trends in the growth or deceleration in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, said Nograles.
Capacity assessment
Also to be considered are the capacity of the country’s health care system, including the number and availability of quarantine, isolation, and treatment facilities; the capability to mount contact tracing; the availability of personal protective equipment for front-line workers; and the country’s testing capacity.
Various social, economic and security factors will also be weighed, Nograles said.
He said the Department of Health (DOH) was directed to “convene all concerned agencies and to finalize the aggregation and analysis of all relevant data” which would be discussed by the IATF-EID before President Duterte makes the “final determination” of what to do.
Nograles said experts, including scientists, doctors, and members of the academe, would analyze data in coming up with recommendations about the quarantine.
China experts arriving
Nograles also said the IATF-EID had authorized the visit of a 12-member team of Chinese health experts to help the government deal with the COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines.
The SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the acute respiratory ailment, originated in Wuhan City, capital of central China’s Hubei province.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the team was expected to arrive on Sunday. The group of doctors and nurses will stay for two weeks to “observe and give recommendations” on such areas as infection prevention and control, critical care and laboratory management, she said.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila said the delegation would be led by Director-General Zheng Huiwen and include physicians from the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Their expertise covers critical care medicine, infectious disease control, internal medicine and clinical integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Lab visits
Vergeire said the group would visit the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, San Lazaro Hospital in Manila and the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City.
These serve as laboratories for testing COVID-19 and also taking care of patients who have contracted SARS-CoV-2.
Vergeire earlier said the DOH had requested a visit by a group of Chinese experts “because we wanted to learn and be advised on our measures against COVID-19.”
“We want them to share their expertise because we saw that they have lessened their number of cases and deaths,” she said. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1254015/govt-in-no-rush-to-end-lockdown
Task force chief Carlito Galvez Jr., who is also the presidential peace adviser, said the timing of the lifting of the quarantine was being discussed with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), which makes the policies to be implemented by the NTF during the national health emergency.
“It’s quite difficult to rush to normalcy and the problem comes back. What we are considering is to impose this in one go, perhaps extend it for another 15 or maybe 20 more days so we can sustain its positive impact,” he said in a radio interview.
An ill-timed termination of the quarantine period may spoil the government’s goal of “flattening the curve,” or controlling the contagion, Galvez said.
The DOH reported that 3,094 people had been afflicted with COVID-19, including 144 who had died and 57 who had recovered as of Saturday.
“It will be premature if we make the announcement at this time. We cannot preempt the decision of the President,” Galvez said.
Partial or total lifting?
Takeshi Kasai, Western Pacific regional director for the World Health Organization had also cautioned against rushing to end the quarantine and halt other public health regulations against COVID-19.
“We may have to peel one by one and not just immediately lift those public health measures which were bundled with the lockdown to balance and control the disease and to bring society back to normal,” he said.
Some lawmakers and business groups have called for an extension or gradual lifting of the restrictions.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the IATF-EID spokesperson, said it had approved the parameters proposed by a subtechnical working group for deciding whether to totally or partially lift or extend the Luzon lockdown.
The parameters include the trends in the growth or deceleration in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, said Nograles.
Capacity assessment
Also to be considered are the capacity of the country’s health care system, including the number and availability of quarantine, isolation, and treatment facilities; the capability to mount contact tracing; the availability of personal protective equipment for front-line workers; and the country’s testing capacity.
Various social, economic and security factors will also be weighed, Nograles said.
He said the Department of Health (DOH) was directed to “convene all concerned agencies and to finalize the aggregation and analysis of all relevant data” which would be discussed by the IATF-EID before President Duterte makes the “final determination” of what to do.
Nograles said experts, including scientists, doctors, and members of the academe, would analyze data in coming up with recommendations about the quarantine.
China experts arriving
Nograles also said the IATF-EID had authorized the visit of a 12-member team of Chinese health experts to help the government deal with the COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines.
The SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the acute respiratory ailment, originated in Wuhan City, capital of central China’s Hubei province.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the team was expected to arrive on Sunday. The group of doctors and nurses will stay for two weeks to “observe and give recommendations” on such areas as infection prevention and control, critical care and laboratory management, she said.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila said the delegation would be led by Director-General Zheng Huiwen and include physicians from the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Their expertise covers critical care medicine, infectious disease control, internal medicine and clinical integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Lab visits
Vergeire said the group would visit the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, San Lazaro Hospital in Manila and the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City.
These serve as laboratories for testing COVID-19 and also taking care of patients who have contracted SARS-CoV-2.
Vergeire earlier said the DOH had requested a visit by a group of Chinese experts “because we wanted to learn and be advised on our measures against COVID-19.”
“We want them to share their expertise because we saw that they have lessened their number of cases and deaths,” she said. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1254015/govt-in-no-rush-to-end-lockdown
Galvez: 15 to 20-day extension of Luzon lockdown being studied
It would be ‘premature to make an announcement,’ but an extended lockdown is a ‘big possibility,’ says the chief implementer of government plans in quelling the pandemic
It’s too early to tell, but the government is studying whether to extend the “enhanced community quarantine” or lockdown of Luzon by another 15 to 20 days after its scheduled end on April 12, said National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr on Saturday, April 4.
While it’s “premature” to make an announcement at this point, Galvez said scientists and doctors specializing in epidemics are studying reference models from other countries in terms of “flattening the curve” or slowing down the rate of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
It would be difficult to “rush into normalcy” only to revert to another lockdown if it turns out the infection rate is still escalating, he added.
“So with that, ang nakita po namin, ang isa sa mga malaking possibility na magkaroon po tayo ng extension ng 15 days or maybe 20 days para po talagang ma-sustain natin. Kasi sa ngayon, medyo papaakyat pa po, hindi pa siya nagpa-plateau,” Galvez said in an interview with DZBB radio.
(So with that, what we’re seeing is that one of the big possibilities is we will have an extension of 15 days or maybe 20 days so that we can really sustain it. Because right now, it’s still rising, it hasn’t plateaued.)
The lockdown of Luzon island, home to roughly half the national population, began on March 17. Metro Manila, the capital region, has been on lockdown since March 15.
The prospects of a longer lockdown are being discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on emerging infectious diseases with President Rodrigo Duterte.
"We can’t preempt the President’s decision,” Galvez said.
Earlier on Saturday, the IATF said the government is looking at trends in the COVID-19 epidemiological curve, the capacity of the health care system, as well as social, economic, and security factors as parameters in deciding whether to extend the Luzon-wide lockdown.
‘Massive testing’ of PUIs, PUMs
The NTF is in the thick of converting several large venues in Metro Manila and other parts of the country into quarantine facilities. Galvez said many of them should be ready by April 11.
The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila is the first expected to be ready – by April 6, Galvez earlier said – and it will house 200 beds. Along with the World Trade Center and the Philippine International Convention Center’s tent pavilion in Pasay City, the first national quarantine facilities will be able to take in up to 1,200 persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM) by next week.
A PUI is someone who has two or all of the following:
Meanwhile, a PUM is someone who has a history of travel to a virus-hit country or exposure to a coronavirus patient.
Galvez said the Department of Health has started “massive testing” of PUIs and PUMs following the delivery of at least 168,000 testing kits from China, Singapore, and South Korea. Even more kits will soon be available, including the ones developed by a group of scientists from the University of the Philippines.
As more cases of the virus are confirmed, the government plans to trace each patient’s contacts – who would then be PUMs or, if they have symptoms, PUIs – and transfer them to national quarantine facilities.
The goal is to isolate as many possible carriers of the virus as possible in order to arrest its spread, Galvez earlier said.
As of Saturday, the Philippines has recorded 3,094 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 144 deaths and 57 recoveries.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/257004-galvez-says-luzon-lockdown-extension-possible
It’s too early to tell, but the government is studying whether to extend the “enhanced community quarantine” or lockdown of Luzon by another 15 to 20 days after its scheduled end on April 12, said National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr on Saturday, April 4.
While it’s “premature” to make an announcement at this point, Galvez said scientists and doctors specializing in epidemics are studying reference models from other countries in terms of “flattening the curve” or slowing down the rate of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
It would be difficult to “rush into normalcy” only to revert to another lockdown if it turns out the infection rate is still escalating, he added.
“So with that, ang nakita po namin, ang isa sa mga malaking possibility na magkaroon po tayo ng extension ng 15 days or maybe 20 days para po talagang ma-sustain natin. Kasi sa ngayon, medyo papaakyat pa po, hindi pa siya nagpa-plateau,” Galvez said in an interview with DZBB radio.
(So with that, what we’re seeing is that one of the big possibilities is we will have an extension of 15 days or maybe 20 days so that we can really sustain it. Because right now, it’s still rising, it hasn’t plateaued.)
The lockdown of Luzon island, home to roughly half the national population, began on March 17. Metro Manila, the capital region, has been on lockdown since March 15.
The prospects of a longer lockdown are being discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on emerging infectious diseases with President Rodrigo Duterte.
"We can’t preempt the President’s decision,” Galvez said.
Earlier on Saturday, the IATF said the government is looking at trends in the COVID-19 epidemiological curve, the capacity of the health care system, as well as social, economic, and security factors as parameters in deciding whether to extend the Luzon-wide lockdown.
‘Massive testing’ of PUIs, PUMs
The NTF is in the thick of converting several large venues in Metro Manila and other parts of the country into quarantine facilities. Galvez said many of them should be ready by April 11.
The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila is the first expected to be ready – by April 6, Galvez earlier said – and it will house 200 beds. Along with the World Trade Center and the Philippine International Convention Center’s tent pavilion in Pasay City, the first national quarantine facilities will be able to take in up to 1,200 persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM) by next week.
A PUI is someone who has two or all of the following:
- History of travel in the past 14 days to countries with local transmissions and risk of importation of the virus;
- History of exposure to a confirmed case;
- Symptoms of respiratory illness (cough and/or colds) and/or fever.
Meanwhile, a PUM is someone who has a history of travel to a virus-hit country or exposure to a coronavirus patient.
Galvez said the Department of Health has started “massive testing” of PUIs and PUMs following the delivery of at least 168,000 testing kits from China, Singapore, and South Korea. Even more kits will soon be available, including the ones developed by a group of scientists from the University of the Philippines.
As more cases of the virus are confirmed, the government plans to trace each patient’s contacts – who would then be PUMs or, if they have symptoms, PUIs – and transfer them to national quarantine facilities.
The goal is to isolate as many possible carriers of the virus as possible in order to arrest its spread, Galvez earlier said.
As of Saturday, the Philippines has recorded 3,094 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 144 deaths and 57 recoveries.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/257004-galvez-says-luzon-lockdown-extension-possible
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