METRO Manila will keep its general community quarantine (GCQ) classification in the next two weeks despite its rising novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and diminishing available critical care.
This after President Duterte approved on Thursday the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Resolution 60-A implementing new community quarantine classifications nationwide from August 1, 2020 to August 15, 2020.
Under the said IATF resolution, the National Capital Region (NCR), Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal for Luzon; Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Minglanilla and Consolacion for the Visayas; and Zamboanga City for Mindanao will be placed under GCQ.
The rest of the country will be placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Specific conditions
In response to the increasing infection cases in NCR and Calabarzon, however, the IATF imposed additional quarantine measures to ensure the safety of those living in both regions, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
These measures include strict localized lockdown/ECQ in barangays, where 80 percent of cases are localized and the publication of these barangays.
People in the two regions will also have to comply with stringent enforcement of minimum health standards, which now includes wearing of face shields aside from face masks, social distancing, and regular hand washing.
Roque said there will also be massive targeted testing, intensified tracing, and quarantine of close contacts; isolation of confirmed cases; and strict adherence to Oplan Kalinga implementation in both regions.
Additional bed capacity
To ensure there will be sufficient critical care for Covid-19 cases nationwide, Roque said the IATF ordered all government hospitals to increase their bed capacity allocations for Covid-19 patients from 30 percent to 50 percent.
Private hospitals were ordered to increase this bed allocation for Covid-19 patients from 20 percent to 30 percent.
This was in response to the Department of Health (DOH) report that some hospitals in NCR are already running out of beds for Covid-19 patients.
Roque said the IATF tasked Covid-19 treatment czar and heath undersecretary Leopoldo Vega to ensure the compliance of all hospitals with the new policy and to implement the One Command System in NCR, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.
Updated data
Local government units (LGU) in NCR and Calabarzon were also mandated to prioritize the submission of their updated Covid-19 cases to the Covid-Kaya platform, the automated system used by the government to keep track of infection cases nationwide.
Daily trend of active cases, number, and percent of population, Covid-19; cases in community isolation facilities; percentage of close contact traced and percent of contact in quarantine; number of utilization of community isolation beds; met health system capacity target utilization; and Covid special team investigation and results must be reported.
“The LGUs must also submit their detailed plan for the strict enforcement of minimum health standards for their priority areas and barangay,” Roque said.
The Regional Interagency Task Force (RIATF) will be required to submit weekly comprehensive report on Covid-related data to the IATF.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila
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