MANILA, Philippines — The effects of the enhanced community quarantine of the entire Luzon will be seen in the next two weeks, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday amid the continuous spike in COVID-19 cases in the country despite the imposition of the month-long lockdown.
In a virtual press briefing, Duque said that cases being detected now by the Department of Health (DOH) are the ones incurred before the enforcement of the Luzon quarantine, citing the respiratory disease’s incubation period that takes seven to 14 days.
“Ang nakikita pa lamang ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan ay mga kaso bago pa simulang ang enhanced community quarantine. Ito ay dahil ang incubation period ng COVID-19 ay nasa 7 to 14 days,” Duque said.
“Makikita pa lamang ang epekto ng enhanced community quarantine matapos ang susunod na dalawang linggo,” he added.
To date, the Philippines has 707 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 45 of whom have died while 28 recovered.
President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire Luzon under a month-long lockdown on March 16, forcing about half of the country’s population to observe strict home quarantine. His directive comes just two days after a botched attempt to restrict the movement of people living and working in Metro Manila.
The lockdown is the government’s response to health experts’ estimate that COVID-19 infection may reach 75,000 in the Philippines in three months if the virus is not contained.
The health chief said they are now in the process of “refining” the estimate with the government’s actions being taken into consideration.
Globally, the virus, which was first detected in Hubei, China late last year, has so far infected over 470,000 and killed more than 21,000 in nearly 200 countries and territories.