National Task Force on Covid-19 chairman Delfin Lorenzana defended on Monday the decision of the government to put back Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) described the first day of the implementation of its checkpoints as “generally peaceful” with residents and motorists being “substantially compliant.”
The PNP put up and manned more than 1,000 quarantine points (QCPs) in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, or NCR Plus, midnight on Sunday as the government scrambles to quell the alarming rise in Covid infections. The checkpoints were implemented along with the imposition of longer hours of curfew in ECQ areas.
Motorists have complained of long traffic in areas where the quarantine checkpoints are being carried out, but PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana said this was mainly due to the infractions in health protocols by motorists and the absence of their necessary papers.
“Adherence to protocol on public transport capacity, especially jeepney and motorcycle barrier/separator is a challenge,” the PNP noted in its report.
“Presentation of identity of those who claimed to be APOR [authorized person outside of residence] or essential workers but no proof, delays the traffic flow,” the report added.
Lorenzana, who is also the defense secretary, said the government must not be faulted with its decision to re-impose ECQ in some areas or at least, possible delay, admitting that its effects to the economy was specifically factored in.
“The timing is correct…because we have to observe for a couple of days, and several days, the spike in new cases. So we were watching closely, the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases] was watching closely the increase, and then when it…breached 8,000 then that’s the time that we acted,” he told CNN Philippines.
“There are actually debates among the IATF members because the economic team doesn’t want to impose ECQ because of [the] economic health of the country…but eventually, they relented because the cases kept on increasing,” he added.
Lorenzana said that the ECQ will hopefully stem the spike in cases, but he admitted the government is open to extending the ECQ, which is dependent on the effects of the quarantine condition currently imposed in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces.
“All options are open,” he said.
The national task force head said the government, through the IATF, did all it can to stop the spread of the virus, and it even fared better compared with other countries.
“I think we did the best we can. I think we did everything…according to what the IATF has decided,” Lorenzana said. “Looking back, I think we did better than a lot of countries.”
Cases breach 10-K mark on Monday
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday justified the government’s “harder measures” to control the spike in Covid cases, warning figures may hit 430,000 by the end of April.
“Sabi nila kung hindi tayo magbibigay ng [They said that if we will not implement] immediate and harder measures, we will see 430,000 [active] cases by the end of April nationally and 350,000 [active] cases in NCR alone by the end of April,” Maria Rosario Vergeire revealed during the DOH media forum, citing the analysis conducted by the disease surveillance tool of the DOH.
This developed as the DOH reported an all-time high single-day spike in Covid-19 cases on Monday after 10,016 new infections were logged. There were also 78 recoveries and 16 deaths.
The active cases is 15.8 percent, or 115,495.
Vergeire said that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) declared in NCR and
Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite, or the Greater Metro Manila, could help to control the spike in cases.
The public should also observe minimum public health standards, she said.
Vergeire also noted that the increasing intensive care unit (ICU) utilization at 63 percent in Metro Manila and 58 percent for Calabarzon.
She also expressed worries that the occupancy of ICU beds ranges from 70 percent to 100 percent.
Meanwhile, the DOH said that of 16 deaths, 6 occurred in March 2021 (38 percent), 1 in January 2021 (6 percent), 1 in December 2020 (6 percent), 1 in November 2020 (6 percent), 3 in October 2020 (19 percent), 2 in July 2020 (12 percent), 1 in June 2020 (6 percent), and 1 in April 2020 (6 percent).
Deaths were from NCR (9 or 56 percent), CAR (2 or 12 percent), Region 3 (1 or 6 percent), Region 6 (1 or 6 percent), Region 4A (1 or 6 percent), Region 5 (1 or 6 percent), and Caraga (1 or 6 percent).
Three labs were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on March 28, 2021.
Image credits: Muntinlupa-PIO
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