House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza said Wednesday that there will be no lockdown at the House of Representatives as the situation is ‘under control’ and ‘managed’.
“So far, no need naman ano, napag-usapan naman, nasabi naman ni Speaker tsaka ng mga members na hindi na kailangan i-lockdown (So far, (there is) no need as agreed upon by the Speaker and the members,” Mendoza said in an interview with House reporters.
Mendoza reported that as of yesterday, COVID-19 active cases at the Lower House reached 29 but the figure will soon dwindle to less than 20.
“So far, kagaya ng sinabi ko yesterday, we have around 29 active cases na nandito sa House. So doon sa 29 cases na iyon actually hinihintay na lang namin yung final report ng doctor, kasi mayroon tayong hinihintay na 10 na talagang cleared na siya (so far, as I said yesterday, we have around 29 active cases in the House. Out of the 29 cases, we are just waiting for the doctor’s final report since 10 of them have already been cleared,” Mendoza explained.
The House is currently conducting COVID-19 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing for its employees, and weekly antigen testing.
Next week will be the final session days before Congress goes on a Holy Week break. Mendoza disclosed that the break will be used for thorough disinfection.
“Sa Holy Week wala naman papasok dito sa House para makapagpalinis tayo ng husto dito sa House. At the same time, makapag-implement din ng ibang precautionary measures dito sa House na gagawin (During the Holy Week, there will be no work at the House so we could really clean up the place. At the same time, we could implement other precautionary measures in the House.”
COVID-19 vaccination
Meanwhile, Mendoza assured that House employees will take a shot of COVID-19 vaccines without violating the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) protocols on the vaccination priority list.
The use of AstraZeneca vaccine was initially contemplated on but due to its reported ill effects, other brands available in the country will be considered.
“Yes, actually may mga issue biglang lumabas tungkol doon, kaya tsine-check namin kung ano pa yung mas maganda na pwede ipalit sa AstraZeneca just in case na ma-confirm nga ‘yung lumabas sa studies regarding sa AstraZeneca (Yes, actually there are issues that suddenly surfaced about this vaccine so we are checking better products that could replace AstraZeneca just in case the studies will be confirmed),” Mendoza disclosed. – Daniel Manalastas
