By Bea Bernardo
The Department of Health (DOH) underscored the importance of the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble (National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) to allow the healthcare system to recover.
At the DOH Online Forum today, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that based on the projection of the FASSSTER disease scenario app, active cases nationwide will reach over 400,000 by the end of April if stricter measures are not imposed.
“Sabi nila kung hindi tayo magbibigay ng [They said if we will not give] immediate or harder measures, we will see 430,000 cases by the end of April nationally, and 350,000 cases in NCR alone by the end of April,” Vergeire said.
FASSTER (Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler For Early Detection of Diseases) is a disease surveillance tool adopted by the DOH.
Vergeire said the health system is already choking as the healthcare utilization is increasing at 63% in Metro Manila and 58% in Calabarzon.
The health official also said that this week is critical to determine if ECQ should be extended or lifted, and added that they are constantly monitoring the situation.
“Everything will be flexible, everything will be dynamic, it will be based on a lot of factors. Most important, it will be based on the capacity of our health system,” Vergeire said.
However, she also said the effect of the implementation of ECQ will not be immediately felt due to the 14-day incubation period of the virus.
“[Ang] major objective natin, kaya tayo nagsara ulit [Our major objective, and the reason why we shut down again], is for our health system capacity to be manageable enough,” Vergeire said.
The government has reimposed a seven-day ECQ in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in these areas.
