Government eyes forced segregation of PUIs

MANILA, Philippines — The National Task Force against the coronavirus disease 2019 is eyeing to take out patients and persons under investigation or PUIs from their communities by April 14, Carlito Galvez Jr., newly designated NTF chief implementer of the National Action Plan (NAP) against COVID-19, said yesterday.

The move is based on the timetable given to the NTF by President Duterte and is intended to help reduce the public’s anxiety over the spread of the disease, according to Galvez, also the presidential adviser on the peace process.

Once these interventions have been effectively carried out, evaluations will be conducted at the sitio and barangay levels starting April 15.

Galvez said the evaluations would form the basis for declaring communities as “cleared” of COVID, together with the analysis of pandemic experts from the medical community and academe.

“Our long-term objective here is to see the gradual normalization of communities that  have been severely affected by this health crisis. But even if we see a reduction in the number of cases in the future, we cannot afford to let our guard down,” Galvez said.

He added that the government might still have to extend the quarantine period in some affected areas, stressing the need to strike a balance between ensuring the health and safety of residents, while looking after the economy, social order and human safety.

He said this is the reason the NTF has adopted a “carrier-centric” approach which aims to detect, isolate and treat COVID-19 patients so they can be cured of the disease and return to their communities as soon as possible.

“There is a need to determine the social impact of these mitigation measures, as interventions shall be implemented by line agencies on the national level and local government units (LGUs) on the community level throughout the critical stages of this campaign,” Galvez said.

These measures shall be implemented under the NTF’s unified structure, which is composed of the task groups on response operations, resource management and logistics and strategic communication. These task groups shall receive guidance from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

To detect potential COVID-19 carriers, it is imperative to conduct massive testing of PUIs and persons under monitoring (PUMs) without delay, effective contact tracing, enforce enhanced community/home quarantine and isolation of positive cases and PUIs,.

In isolating virus carriers, the task force has to designate government-dedicated treatment facilities for COVID-19, while PUIs need to be taken to converted isolation centers for closer monitoring.

Modified quarantine

Admitting that the COVID-19 crisis is far from over here and in the rest of the world, the IATF is looking at the implementation of a “modified” quarantine in Luzon to address the adverse impact of the disease on the economy.

IATF spokesman Nograles said the task force is also weighing the concerns of the country’s top tycoons on the impact of the community quarantine on businesses.

Nograles agreed with the assertion of the World Health Organization that the pandemic is “far from over.”

Gradual lifting

Meanwhile, the Department of Trade and Industry is recommending a gradual lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to allow more businesses, such as those involved in supply chains of enterprises providing essential products and services, to resume, in support of the modified quarantine.

“Talking to the business community, they actually said to be careful with total lifting. The term modified or gradual lifting is correct,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said yesterday, as he noted that it would not be business as usual.

Businesses to be prioritized for resumption of operations include firms providing inputs and packaging for food and other essential goods, like hygienic items, medical products as well as the agriculture sector.

Some of the business leaders present during the first teleconference with the IATF proposed a modified community or barangay-based quarantine where manufacturing operations and public transportation are allowed to resume, and checkpoints would be removed, provided safeguards are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. – With Christina Mendez, Louella Desiderio, Evelyn Macairan, Emmanuel Tupas, Marc Jayson Cayabyab