The Department of Health (DOH) emphasized it is balancing the protection of the health of Filipinos and the socio-economic situation of the country when giving technical guidelines on quarantine measures.
The department issued the statement to address the call of Finance Secretary Dominguez to ease the quarantine classification of NCR and Calabarzon to MGCQ to aid economic recovery.
“Mananatiling makikipagtulungan ang DOH sa iba pang mga ahensya upang siguruhin na kasama sa paggawa ng rekomendasyon ukol sa quarantine measures ang kalusugan ng mga Pilipino at ang ating ekonomiya (The DOH will maintain coordination with other agencies to ensure that health and the economy will be considered in making recommendations),” DOH USec. Vergeire explained.
The DOH reiterated that the COVID-19 situation in the country is based on the case doubling time which is currently at 7.7 days, positivity rate, and critical care utilization rate (CCUR) at 37.26 percent.
USec. Vergeire also reported that 92,967 returning OFWs have gone back to the country as of June 30, and 2,326 of them are confirmed COVID-19 cases. Based on analysis, there are indications that most of the new cases for May and June are repatriates, compared to March and May when there were more healthcare workers affected.
The latest case bulletin shows that there are now 38,511 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country after 595 fresh and 404 late cases were added to the tally. The recovery count climbed to 10,438 with 205 new recovered patients, while the death toll rose to 1,270 after four succumbed to the disease. Meanwhile, the FDA said the country continues to join solidarity trials in search for COVID-19 vaccine and cure. – Report from Mark Fetalco
