Duterte to IATF: Act on health workers’ concerns immediately

By Prince Golez

President Rodrigo Duterte asked the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to “immediately” ask on the concerns raised by medical frontliners who earlier called on the government to put Metro Manila under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for two weeks.

“President Rodrigo Duterte has heard the concerns of the medical community and the Chief Executive has directed the IATF to act on these concerns immediately,” Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement Saturday.

Roque said the Palace recognized the “skilled, tireless and dedicated” healthcare workers as “important” frontliners in the country’s fight against the coronavirus disease.

“We are grateful for their immense contributions to heal our people and our nation during these difficult times. Your voices have been heard. We cannot afford to let down our modern heroes. This is our commitment,” he added.

In a separate statement yesterday, the spokesperson said the extension of the general community quarantine classification over the region was a subject of “debate and discussion” among the IATF members.

Roque, however, insisted that the strict lockdown imposed on Metro Manila “has served its purpose, and we need to intensify other strategies.”

“It is for this reason that the local government units of Metro Manila have been directed to implement a strict localized lockdown/ECQ in barangays where 80 percent of cases are located and the publication of these barangays,” according to him.

Other measures that local government must implement, he added, include the stringent enforcement of minimum public health standards, massive targeted testing, intensified tracing, quarantine of close contacts, and strict adherence to the implementation of Oplan Kalinga for isolation of confirmed cases.

“Community quarantine alone, we repeat, is an insufficient response in controlling Covid-19. We are scaling up hospital capacity by increasing the allocation of COVID-dedicated beds while hiring more doctors, nurses, and medical personnel,” said Roque.

“We are also engaging the community through risk communication, social mobilization and advocacy to observe the minimum public health standards of wearing a mask washing of hands, and keeping a physical distance. Mag-mask, hugas, iwas is our battle cry in our war against Covid-19,” he concluded.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)