Duterte eyes lockdown over new COVID-19 variant

MANILA, Philippines — Another lockdown is possible if “things get worse,” President Duterte said as a more infectious coronavirus variant begins to spread.

During a meeting with officials and medical experts last Saturday, Duterte said France had enforced a lockdown and that the new COVID-19 variant is “wreaking havoc on the lives of people.”

He then asked members of the government’s pandemic task force and medical experts whether the Philippines should impose another lockdown until the government finds out what it can do about the new strain.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) can set the number of new infections recorded daily that would serve as basis for a lockdown.

“Let us talk about the threshold for the automatic lockdown,” Lorenzana said.

Duterte said the decision on whether to impose a stricter lockdown depends on the “severity” of the COVID-19 numbers.

“Actually, the lockdown is a possibility. I said we are making some projections, but if the severity in numbers would demand that we take corrective measure immediately, then we just have to go back to the lockdown,” the President said.

“If it (number of infections) increases with the new strain, then in the meantime that we are not able to confront them effectively – I mean the virus – we’ll just have to... It depends on the severity in number. If it’s too many already and we do not have the antidote on how to kill those variants, we’ll be having a problem there and of course we would also be hard-pressed on looking for the money for the expenses,” he added.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said there is no need for a stricter lockdown for now, but the Philippines has to secure its international borders.

“As of now, Mr. President, our situation in the country is manageable if we are just talking on the local COVID situation. But we have really to... guard or to watch (our) international borders because the variants or the new strain is coming from those identified countries,” Año said.

“Right now, there’s no necessity to call for a lockdown but probably more on... controlling the... flow from the international (flights). If ever, probably we may not have to declare lockdown in the country but we may have to close the border if there is a real situation that would occur later on,” he added.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte is expected to decide on the quarantine classifications for January today.

“The new quarantine classifications for January will be announced. The IATF will discuss (the classifications) in the morning so that they can recommend it to the President during the evening. We will also check data to determine if there are new developments regarding the new COVID-19 strain,” Roque told radio station dzBB yesterday.

During the latter part of last Saturday’s meeting, Duterte reiterated that the government is ready to enforce more health protocols to safeguard the nation.

“We will treat the new strain as if we are treating the COVID – the way we treated the COVID. And if it is toxic, virulent... We will respond accordingly and it might be something like a lockdown if things get worse,” the President said.

“So it would depend on the severity of the contamination and the number of people that’s being contaminated,” he added.