MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is assessing several options and has yet to make a decision on the fate of the extended Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine which will lapse on April 30, the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte addresses the nation on April 16, 2020. Photo grabbed from FB live
IATF spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the President asked the task force to continue its discussions to give him more options on the impending status of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
“Kahapon po, nung sa pagkakaalam ko, nung nagpresent po yung members ng IATF to the President, hindi pa po nakapagdecide si Pangulong Duterte kung ano yung gagawin after April 30 at binalik muna niya sa IATF ang pagtuloy ng aming discussions doon para mas mabibigyan namin si Pangulong Duterte ng more options that he can take a look at,” Nograles said in an online press conference.
(From what I know, the President has yet to decide on what will happen after April 30. He asked IATF to continue its discussion so we could give him more options to consider.)
Nograles said the IATF is eyeing the entire week to continue its discussions on measures to be implemented after April 30.
“It is not an easy decision to come up with. And we still have time for the President to give his decision. In fact, we’re looking at the entire week this week to give the President some leeway and time to make a decision because April 30 is next week pa naman,” Nograles said.
The government imposed the ECQ to limit the movement of people and arrest increasing number of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) cases in the country.
Health officials have so far confirmed 6,459 cases of COVID-19, with 428 fatalities and 613 recoveries.