Government to decide on January quarantine status before yearend
MANILA, Philippines — The government's pandemic task force is expected to meet after Christmas to discuss the quarantine classifications for January, Malacañang said Sunday, as it denied that stricter measures would be imposed in Metro Manila during the holidays.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) would be submitted to President Duterte, who is then expected to make a decision by yearend.
"After Christmas, we will meet so we can decide on our recommendation to the president," Nograles, also the co-chair of IATF, told radio station dzBB.
"Before January... the president will have a decision. We do it month by month," he added.
Metro Manila, Batangas, Isabela (except Santiago City), Iloilo City, Tacloban City, Lanao del Sur, Iligan, Davao City and Davao del Norte will be under general community quarantine until December 31. The rest of the country will be under the most lenient modified general community quarantine, where most businesses can operate and more people are allowed to join gatherings.
Nograles also described as "fake news" a memorandum stating that Metro Manila would revert to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). The memorandum, which contained the logo of the National Capital Region Police Office and was circulated on messaging applications, said the capital region would be upgraded to MECQ starting December 19.
"That is far from the truth. You know our procedure in the IATF. We make our decisions every month," Nograles said.
"The localized lockdowns are enforced only on street level, zone level or barangay level. They are not enforced on the regional level," he added.
Nograles, nevertheless, noted that local governments can impose localized lockdowns in areas with rising numbers of COVID-19 infections.
The Philippines has logged more than 459,000 COVID-19 infections, about 21,000 of them active cases.
Last week, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said a stricter quarantine classification may be enforced in January if the country's health system capacity indicators reach critical levels.
Other regions and provinces in the Philippines considered moderate and low-risk areas will be placed under general community quarantine starting May 1. Bookmark this page for updates. (Main image by The STAR/Edd Gumban)
The health department registers 1,474 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national caseload to 2,824,499.
- New deaths: 205
- New recoveries: 2,565
- Total active cases: 22,070
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- New deaths: 277
- New recoveries: 1,393
- Total active cases: 23,200
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- New deaths: 305
- New recoveries: 1,956
- Total active cases: 23,158
The Department of Health registers 2,646 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 2,809,311.
- Active cases: 29,138 or 1.0% of the total
- Deaths: 99, pushing the count to 44,665
- Recoveries: 4,029 bringing the number to 2,735,508
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- Active cases: 30,544 or 1.1% of the total
- Deaths: 46, pushing the count to 44,567
- Recoveries: 2,941 bringing the number to 2,731,583
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