Place NCR on lockdown over coronavirus? ‘Premature at this point’ – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said it is still “premature” to put Metro Manila on lockdown amid the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections.

“The protocol, in fact, includes that (lockdown) but it might be premature to do it at this point,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a Palace briefing.

Duque explained they still have to wait for “evidence” that sustained community transmission is present before the government orders a community lockdown or community quarantine.

Late Sunday night, DOH released a statement confirming four new COVID-19 cases that brought the total number of infections in the country to 10, including the first case of local transmission.

Of the confirmed cases, seven are currently admitted to various hospitals while two have recovered as one patient died. The fatality was a tourist from China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The four new COVID-19 patients are separately admitted to the Makati Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, The Medical City in Ortigas, and St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, DOH’s Duque earlier revealed.

Also earlier, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año thumbed down the idea to put the nation’s capital region on a lockdown.

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the entire Philippines under a state of public health emergency due to threats of COVID-19.

The order gave Duque a direct line to the Philippine National Police and law enforcement agencies to ask for assistance in addressing the coronavirus scare.

Meanwhile, Duque said they are working with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Civil Service Commission to study whether they will recommend the suspension of work due to the health concern.

Just last week, DOLE urged employers to adopt flexible work arrangements for their personnel amid the dangers posed by COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.

KGA