Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The national government is studying proposals to put Region 4-A or Calabarzon under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), similar to the National Capital Region (NCR).
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Wednesday that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will discuss the issue during the meeting on Thursday.
“There has been a recommendation, although the IATF will still meet tomorrow on this, whether to put Calabarzon under ECQ. So this is still for consideration of the IATF,” Duque said during the House hearing on the government’s COVID-19 response.
“So we will find out tomorrow based on the latest data or COVID situationer for Calabarzon and the faster projection. There will be a faster projection that will be provided tomorrow, right now hindi pa kasi tapos eh [right now it is not yet finished],” he added.
Duque’s statements came after lawmakers from Calabarzon areas sought for a clarification about rumors saying that Region 4-A provinces would also be included in the ECQ classification.
Right now, only Metro Manila would go through an ECQ from August 6 to 20, while nearby Calabarzon provinces of Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — three provinces included in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus classifications — would remain under a general community quarantine with heightened restrictions.
READ: Metro Manila under ECQ from August 6 to 20
According to Duque, the data which will project the possible growth of COVID-19 cases in the region would be the basis on whether the whole of Calabarzon or only three provinces would be placed under ECQ.
“So the basis of that projection, we will be able to recommend to the IATF kung sigurado na buong Calabarzon ba or tatlong lugar lang ba — Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — (or) isasama ba ang Batangas and Quezon. So ito po malilinaw po ito bukas,” he explained.
(So on the basis of that projection, we will be able to recommend to the IATF if the whole Calabarzon or three areas only would be included in the ECQ status — Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — or if Batangas and Quezon would be included. This would be clarified tomorrow.)
“We will make sure that we will inform you,” Duque told lawmakers who asked him to clarify.
The threat of the Delta variant has forced President Rodrigo Duterte to approve the IATF resolution placing Metro Manila under ECQ for two weeks.
This will be the third time that Metro Manila is under an ECQ after the Luzon-wide lockdown in March 2020 — first in August 2020, second during the Alpha variant-led surge in March 2021, and then this latest ECQ declaration.
Centralized registration system needed
Rep. Angelina Tan, chair of the House Committee on Health, told the Department of Health and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to hasten the “centralized registration system” for the country’s database of COVID-19 vaccination.
During the same hearing at the House, Tan said there is currently no centralized registration system in the country that will store data of people with vaccination against COVID-19.
The lacking, she said, would gravely affect the government efforts in fighting COVID-19. The congresswoman added there had been reports of individuals who were already given China-made vaccine but went back a few months later to be vaccinated again, this time with the US-made vaccine brand.
Tan insisted that the DOH and DICT should prioritize this creation of a system that will identify and put into a nationwide database the people who were already given the vaccine shots.
Tan said the DOH and DICT should act swiftly to prevent this kind of incident from happening in a wider scale, depriving other people of the vaccine supply they need.
Duque, however, said there is a plan for a centralized registration but this remains under process.