Malacañang said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will meet today to discuss its recommendation on the quarantine classification for February.
Earlier report of the Department of Health (DOH) stated that Davao de Oro and Baguio City are already at the critical level of healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), while Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan del Norte have reached high level.
Among the established criteria on the escalation or de-escalation of the community quarantine classification of a certain area are attack rate and HCUR.
“I guess you can say na iyong mga nasa critical care, iyan po ay isang ground for escalation. Pero babalansehin naman po natin dahil may iba pa tayong mga factors na tinitingnan, kagaya ng social factor at saka economic factor (I guess you can say that those at critical care may have ground for escalation. But we will balance it because there are factors that we are considering such as social and economic),” Roque stated.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has approved limited face-to-face classes for several medical courses in areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
“Obvious ang dahilan kung bakit kinakailangang magpatuloy ang training ng mga doctor (The reason is obvious on why it is important to continue the training of doctors) … At the time of pandemic, we need all the doctors we can have,” Roque explained.
Malacaῆang reiterated its call to the public to practice health standards amid the increase of COVID-19 cases and the detection of the UK variant in the country. It added that the vaccines against COVID-19 are arriving very soon. – Report from Mela Lesmoras
