IATF to discuss next quarantine classification tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will meet tomorrow to discuss the next quarantine classification in the National Capital Region Plus bubble and other parts of the country, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said over the weekend.

Although noting a slower transmission rate since the stricter community quarantine levels were imposed earlier this month, he told dzBB that there are no talks yet if the classification would be downgraded to general community quarantine in the NCR Plus from the current modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

The number of active and new COVID-19 cases as well as the utilization rate of health facilities will be among the factors that would be considered to determine the next quarantine classification, Año added.

There was no information yet on when the IATF decision would be announced but presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a text message yesterday that it would be done “this coming week.”

“The members of the IATF, in their next meeting would look into the analytics of the healthcare system of the NCR Plus and the country. Specifically, it will review the attack rate and the hospital care utilization rate while checking the economic health of the nation,” Roque said in a statement.

“Our approach is whole-of-government and our overarching goal is to promote the total health of Filipinos, including people who have been marginalized due to loss of jobs and have experienced poverty as a result of the imposition of strict lockdowns,” he added.

NCR Plus, which consists of Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, were placed under the strictest ECQ status from March 29 to April 11 because of a surge in pandemic infections that threatened to overwhelm hospitals.

Under ECQ, strict home quarantine is observed and the movement of residents is limited to accessing goods and services, except for those who are working in sectors allowed to operate. Social gatherings are prohibited and only selected establishments and industries like hospitals, food production, delivery services transporting essential goods, banks, utilities and telecommunication firms are allowed to operate.

The classification of NCR Plus has been downgraded to the more relaxed MECQ last April 12 after some hospitals agreed to allocate more beds for COVID-19 patients. Officials have said that President Duterte’s directive for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to settle the accounts payable to healthcare facilities had persuaded hospitals to open more COVID-19 wards.

Under MECQ, more sectors are allowed to operate but work-from-home and other flexible work arrangements are still encouraged. Gatherings are allowed but only up to 10 percent of the venue capacity.

Last week, National Task Force against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon announced that hospitals in NCR Plus have committed 176 additional intensive care unit beds and more than 1,000 ward beds to accommodate more patients who contracted the virus.

He said the additional beds, which may be activated next month, would lower the ICU bed utilization rate from 82 percent to roughly 70 percent, which falls within the moderate risk category.

Moderate risk areas are qualified to be placed under the more relaxed general community quarantine but Malacañang has clarified that there are other factors that have to be considered like the daily attack rate and two-week average attack rate.

Experts have cited the need to continue measures that would slow the transmission of the virus to decongest hospitals.

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, a fellow of the OCTA Research Group, has urged the government not to ease the classification of NCR Plus until the COVID-19 reproduction number remains below 0.9 in a sustained manner.

He said the reproduction number, which refers to the number of people that an individual who caught COVID-19 can infect, should be lower than 1 for several weeks. – Alexis Romero