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Duterte puts Metro Manila under ‘community quarantine’

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday imposed a 30-day lockdown on Metro Manila, prohibiting travel to and from the national capital up to April 14, extending the suspension of classes in the metropolis until April 12, and banning “planned or spontaneous” mass gatherings after the Department of Health confirmed 52 cases and five deaths from the pneumonia-like disease COVID-19.

“To my countrymen, do not panic. Please do not be stressed to the point that you may not be able to do what you want to do,” Mr. Duterte said in a nationally televised address. “You can still do so, but we will have restrictions. There will be conditions because there is a crisis.”

‘Very clear crisis’

“The crisis is very, very clear. COVID-19 is spreading throughout the country, including the Philippines,” he said. “It’s a serious one. Do not belittle it. Do not minimize it, but do not kill yourself with worry … If you do not cooperate, the problem would start and it would start with you and it will end with you.”

The President approved a resolution by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to raise the COVID-19 alert to code red sublevel 2, which imposed “community quarantine” on Metro Manila and other measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes the acute respiratory ailment.

‘We fear lockdown’

“For Manila, we don’t want to use that because we fear lockdown, but it’s a lockdown” he said. “There is no struggle of power here. It’s just a matter of protecting and defending you from COVID-19.”

He said he would “convert” the resolution into an executive order so that authorities could implement it.

The Department of Health reported five people had died since January, including three it reported on Thursday night.

Mr. Duterte said that domestic land, sea and air travel “to and from Metro Manila shall be suspended beginning March 15, 2020 and to end on April 14, 2020 … subject to the daily review of the interagency task force.”

He urged the public to follow directives from the authorities, including the military and the police.

“This is not martial law. It is not even extraordinary. What is sought to be solved here is, again, nothing else except to fight the virus and to exact compliance. It would really be better for you to believe [the authorities],” he said.

The task force resolution gave guidelines to local governments in other areas on when to impose localized community quarantine procedures—a barangay-wide quarantine when there are at least two positive COVID-19 cases belonging to different households in the same barangay; a municipality- or city-wide quarantine when there are at least two positive cases belonging to different villages in the same municipality or city; a province-wide quarantine when there are at least two positive cases belonging to different municipalities or cities in the same province.

During the class suspension, students should still continue to fulfill their academic requirements, the resolution said.

The government also will suspend work in the executive branch for 30 days, but a skeletal workforce may be established “in order to maintain the unimepeded delivery of services to the public.”

The government encouraged the private sector to adopt flexible work arrangements. The Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Trade and Industry were tasked to issue guidelines to safeguard the welfare of workers.

OFWs allowed to travel

“All manufacturing, retail and service establishments are advised to remain in operation during the said period, provided that strict social distancing measures are required to be observed by their respective managements,” the resolution said.

In addition, mass public transport such as the Light Rail Transits, the Metro Rail Transit, and the Philippine National Railways shall continue in operation with guidelines to ensure social distancing in public transport.

Overseas Filipino workers will be allowed to travel to China except to Hubei province upon their execution of a declaration signifying that they know and understand the risks involved. They will be given a health advisory pamphlet upon departure.

Entry travel restrictions shall be imposed on those traveling from countries with localized coronavirus transmissions, except for Filipino citizens, their spouses and children; Philippine permanent visa holders, and holders of diplomat visas issued by the Philippine government.

The secretaries of the IATF-EID’s member agencies will conduct a small strategic meeting “with the goal of mobilizing the entire government machinery in addressing the recent developments in the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Intersectoral collaboration. The meetings will include the Cabinet secretary, secretaries of national defense, environment, trade, social welfare, education, agriculture, and other agencies that the IATF-EID may invite.

The stringent social distancing measures were issued four days after the President declared a state of public health emergency in light of rising cases of COVID-19 infections.

The IATF-EID, in pushing for the recommendations, recognized “the need for an intersectoral collaboration or to establish preparedness and ensure efficient government response to assess, monitor, contain, control and prevent the spread of any potential epidemic in the Philippines.” —WITH A REPORT FROM TINA G. SANTOS

Covid-19 cases in Philippines now at 52

The Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday, March 12, three more confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country, bringing the total to 52.

The three new cases involved a 69-year-old Filipino who has been confined at The Medical City; a 26-year-old Filipino who was admitted to the Makati Medical Center; and a 79-year-old Filipino who was brought to the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

The DOH's list of confirmed cases show that the 79-year-old Filipino (Patient 52) has a history of travel to the United Kingdom.

The DOH and deployed surveillance teams, in cooperation with concerned local government units, are now conducting "extensive information-gathering" and contact tracing activities on the new cases.

“So we continually ask the public to cooperate and help us in the investigation and contact tracing activities. Individuals with history of known exposure to a positive patient and/or travel to areas with local transmission, within and outside the country, presenting with mild symptoms are advised to self-isolate and be home quarantined for 14 days. Those presenting severe and critical symptoms need to be immediately admitted to health facilities. Let us be responsible with our own health, family’s well being, and that of our community,” said DOH Secretary Francisco Duque in a statement.

On Wednesday, March 11, the DOH also announced 16 additional cases of Covid-19 in the country and confirmed that another patient died.

The DOH identified the second mortality as Patient 35, a 67-year-old Filipino woman.

The first confirmed death was a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan, China who died in February due to pneumonia.

Patient 35, who experienced symptoms on February 29, was admitted last March 5 at the Manila Doctors’ Hospital and swabbed for testing last March 8. She tested positive for the new virus last March 11 and passed away around noon of the same day due to severe pneumonia.

The DOH said the patient had existing medical conditions, namely, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. She was admitted together with her husband, patient 34, who remains confined at the Manila Doctors Hospital.

“Our recent mortality have underlying medical conditions, making the patient extremely vulnerable to Covid-19. So we reiterate that the best way to protect yourself from the disease is to keep yourself healthy and practice general preventive measures: proper handwashing, cough etiquette, and social distancing,” said Duque.

According to the health department, elderly people (average of 66 years) and those with underlying medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease, and immunosuppression are the ones vulnerable to Covid-19.

“We further urge those who are immunocompromised and are with existing health conditions to be more vigilant and avoid crowded areas and mass gatherings,” Duque added. (LMY/SunStar Philippines)

UP capable of supplying 6,000 test kits

AS MANY as 6,000 locally developed diagnostic test kits for Covid-19 can be produced in just three weeks, the Philippine Genome Center said.

Dr. Raul Destura, Philippine Genome Center deputy executive director who led the UP National Institutes of Health in developing the Sars-CoV-2 PCR detection kits, said he is confident about the accuracy of the testing kits.

"I am very confident," Destura said in a press conference Thursday, March 12. Sars-CoV-2 is the name of the novel coronavirus given by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

The kit was developed by Filipino scientists at the UP-NIH. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier issued a Certificate of Exemption for the detection kits, allowing its use for field testing coupled with gene sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, however, said they could not use the locally developed test kits without an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) permit from the World Health Organization (WHO).

UP executive vice president Teodoro Herbosa insisted that the test kits may be used with just the approval of the FDA.

"All countries that are members of the WHO try to get advice from the WHO. It is not a governing body, it is an advisory body," Herbosa said.

"What regulates the government with drugs, vaccines, or test kits to be used in the health sector is the Philippine FDA," he said.

"They (FDA) regulate what can be sold and used in the Philippines," he added.

Destura said the kits are manufactured by two robots.

"Kasi yung ating manufacturer, it has the robotic manufacturing unit.. we can manufacture on a faster speed. In fact, we might have to add additional robots. Right now kasi, we have two," Destura said.

He said they could make available at least 1,000 kits a week and slowly ramp up production until they reach full capacity.

"Ngayon kasi kaka-start lang namin since the announcement ano, this week we can do 1000 tests, next week nasa 2000, then sa third week 3000.. hanggang sa ma-full scale capacity," said Destura.

Destura added that they may have to expand the manufacturing area, but only after a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) approval.

GMP refers to a system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled with quality standards.

It shall minimize the risks involved in any pharmaceutical production that cannot be eliminated through testing the final product.

"We are expanding to another area. Kailangan kasi na GMP certified eh to ensure that technology developed are in good quality," Destura said.

In an interview, Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director Gerardo Legaspi disclosed the standard procedure for people who wish to be tested for Covid-19.

"So ang when this all started ang aming hospital infection unit already formulated a plan so ni-limit na ang entry points. May screening na, and then may mag i-interview bakit sila nandoon. If may lagnat ba or may travel history," Legaspi told Sunstar.

He explained that there is a separate tent for people who test positive for the virus and persons under investigation (PUI).

"Kapag tinawag na for screening, bababa na ang infections experts naka full gown mag iinterview na. If there are sufficient reasons na PUI ang patient, idederetcho na sa PUI room and then i t-test na," Legaspi said.

"So most of the patients naman are not severely sick, so kapag nag positive ang PUIs, they will have to stay in the same room kasama ng mga nag-positive," he added.

"Kasi everytime we move patients contamination of others tumataas," he said.

As of Thursday morning, the Department of Health (DOH) has confirmed that two patients have died from Covid-19 while two have returned to China.

Still admitted in hospitals across the country are 48 other Covid-19 patients, including two who are in critical condition. (SunStar Philippines)