The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is yet to finalize the quarantine classifications that will be implemented for the month of February.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque believes that there will be no major changes in the quarantine classifications but emphasized that the compliance to minimum public health standards still plays a big role in the pandemic.
“We have to recognize iyong achievement ng ating taumbayan (the achievement of the public). Bagama’t marami pa po tayong kaso (Although we still have many cases), we have gone down from number nineteen to twenty worldwide, in terms of cases. We have remained for the past weeks to be number 32 worldwide,” he cited.
President Rodrigo Duterte is set to address the nation tonight from Davao City on the current measures of the government on COVID-19 and other issues.
Regarding the easing of age restrictions for individuals allowed to go out in areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said new variants of the virus do not choose certain age groups.
“Iyon lang po, kailangan lagi tayong may (We just need to always have) caution when we talk about children. So we are trying to encourage local government and of course our public, na kailangan talaga po iyong (that we really need the) compliance to minimum public health standards,” Vergeire advised.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez also affirmed it is “worth it” to try the easing of restriction as long as the public remain “compliant” since there is the need to stimulate demand amid economic recovery.
Meanwhile, Sec. Roque said he will “leave [it] to the IATF to operationalize” President Duterte’s aspiration to include families of government troops as priority beneficiaries of COVID-19 vaccines. – Report from Mela Lesmoras
