Govt fine-tunes next ‘gameplan’ vs COVID-19 ahead of lockdown end

MANILA, Philippines — The government is slowly fine-tuning its “gameplan” after April 30 or when the extended Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine to block the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lapses.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the IATF is in the process of getting more data to craft the government’s next steps against COVID-19.

So far, it has not been decided yet whether the lockdown will be lifted or extended once more.

“Hindi pa ‘yan tapos kasi patuloy pa rin naming pinag-uusapan ‘yan. ‘Yung Asean Summit was also very helpful kasi nakikita din namin ano ‘yung ginagawa ng ibang bansa. So all of that is being taken into consideration, pinag-aaralan and then we’re fine-tuning everything,” Nograles said in a virtual press briefing Wednesday.

While they are studying what to do next, the Palace official said the government will continue with its their target to detect more COVID-19 cases then isolate and treat them.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the extension of the lockdown in Luzon until April 30 as the government continues to grapple with the rising cases of the infectious respiratory illness. The lockdown which was initially set to end on April 13, suspended public transportation and prohibited social gatherings.

Currently, 5,223 individuals have contracted the disease nationwide, 335 of them died while 295 have recovered.

/MUF