PH gov’t details national action plan vs COVID-19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiEjoEL3e7s

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government on Wednesday laid down its National Action Plan (NAP) aimed to address the threats of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles presented the plan during a press briefing in Malacañang.

The NAP, Nograles said, aims to “adopt measures for containment and mitigation of the spread of the virus to reduce the spread of new cases and to facilitate the detection, identification, and isolation of COVID-19 carriers.”

The IATF will serve as NAP’s policy-making body while the National Task Force (NTF) will be headed by the Department of National Defense (DND) as earlier announced by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The NTF’s members, meanwhile, will be determined by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Nograles said.

Under the proposed structure, a task group on response operations will address matters on enforcement and security, food security, disaster risk management, and labor issues.

Nograles said task groups for resource management and logistics, as well as for communications will also be established.

To further assist Filipinos amid the health emergency, the IATF ordered the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to transfer P420 million to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to cover medical expenses related to COVID-19.

The plan to fight against COVID-19 was presented after President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law a measure granting him additional powers to address the national health emergency.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country have swelled to 636, of which 38 individuals have died and 26 have recovered.

Read the full document here: