Will quarantine be eased? Duterte decides today

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is scheduled to announce today the updated quarantine classifications of Metro Manila and other areas. He will also attend a Jordan-led virtual conference later this week.

Duterte was expected to return to Manila yesterday after being in Davao City for more than three weeks, his longest stay in his hometown during the pandemic. He will meet with members of the government’s pandemic task force today to discuss the quarantine classifications at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang park.

“He returns to Manila later (Aug. 30). He will address the people from Malago tomorrow (Aug. 31),” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said in a text message sent yesterday.

Roque said Duterte would also participate in the Aqaba Process on Sept. 2. The Aqaba Process was launched by Jordanian King Abdullah II in 2015 to “comprehensively address interconnected counterterrorism and violent extremist threats through informal discussions,” according to a previous statement by the United Nations Office of Counterterrorism.

Sen. Bong Go, Duterte’s former aide, said the President is expected to talk about the Philippines’ response to the coronavirus pandemic during the forum.

Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal, which contribute about two thirds of the Philippines’ economic output, were placed on partial lockdown from Aug. 4 to 18 after healthcare workers requested a two-week “timeout” that would allow the government to improve its pandemic response. They were placed again under the more lenient general community quarantine last Aug. 19 but stricter measures were imposed such as uniform curfew hours and limiting the industries that can resume operations.

Carlito Galvez, Jr., chief implementer of the coronavirus disease policy, previously said placing entire regions under lockdown would harm the economy and that the enforcement of quarantine measures at the local level is “the way forward.” This was echoed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who said a stricter quarantine status would “irreversibly injure, if not damage, the economy beyond repair.”

The Philippines already has more than 217,000 COVID-19 cases, the highest in Southeast Asia. The pandemic has dragged the Philippines into a recession, with the economy shrinking by a record 16.5 percent in the second quarter, deeper than the 0.7 contraction in the first three months.

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo believes Metro Manila and nearby areas should remain under general community quarantine for the next two weeks as cases of COVID-19 remain high.

The Vice President said quarantine restrictions should be based on data.

“When we look at the positivity rate, we are hitting 10 to 12 percent, which is way higher than the world standard. The world standard is less than five percent,” Robredo said over dzXL.

The Vice President also noted the high number of COVID-19 fatalities logged in the past weeks.

“We hope the cases will go down. Now, we’re still hitting 3,000 to 6,000, this is very high. And if you look at the number of deaths, yesterday, for the fourth straight day, we have recorded more than 90 deaths,” Robredo said.

On Sunday, the Department of Health recorded 4,284 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 217,396. The agency also logged 102 new fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths due to the disease to 3,520.

The DOH, however, said 22,319 have recovered from the infection, bringing total recoveries to 157,403.

The Vice President said the country should increase its COVID-19 tests per day and intensify its contact tracing to stop the spread of the disease.

“We should increase our initial target of 30,000 tests a day,” she said. – Helen Flores