Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) extended by another week
MANILA – With the most recent meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) this Black Saturday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) will be extended by at least another week, from Monday, April 5 until Sunday, April 11.
“This will be for the National Capital Region and Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Bulacan provinces,” Secretary Roque said as he underscored the role of local government units in the area to be more aggressive in prevention, detection, isolation, treatment and reintegration.
He said there will be house-to-house visits of barangay officials to monitor and subject people to COVID-19 tests.
He also added 110 additional beds will be made available for moderate to severe COVID-19 cases at the Quezon Institute along E. Rodriguez Ave. in Quezon City,
“There will be another 110 additional beds for moderate to severe COVID-19 cases by next month,” he explained.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) was directed to ensure all concerned local government units shall provide the needed data as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were directed to provide the data in the workplaces and establishments. The Task Group on management of Returning Overseas Filipinos (TG-MrOF) will provide the data on returning overseas Filipinos.
Secretary Roque did not say who recommended the extension of another week of ECQ for the country’s most populous areas.
The Department of Health’s latest case bulletin, it was learned 12,576 new COVID-19 cases have been reported bring the total number of cases to 784,043.
The DOH said 599 recovered while 103 died. According to the date last April 2, out of the 33,800 persons tested, 24.2% were found positive while 98.7% were either mild or asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Orthopedic Center said despite the lockdown, they have been attending to some 350 to 450 patients daily as well as the increase in positivity rate of covid patients, 117 out of 180 personnel who underwent swab tests turned positive.
Dr. John Andrew Michael Bengzon, the Officer-In-Charge of the Philippine Orthopedic Center said they will temporarily close their out-patient department as online consultations will be offered in lieu of the outpatient face-to-face consultations. Elective surgeries will also be suspended.
He added they are facilitating quarantine for their staff via the One Hospital Command Center. As of yesterday, 36 have been assisted in admission to quarantine centers. This is over the 40 allotted beds the POC can share with its own staff.
Service areas and offices have already been disinfected as adjustment of working hours have already been made for the staff. The second dose rollout for the Sinovac will begin on Monday, April 5 until April 12. Continuous mandatory swabbing for other staff will commence on Wednesday, April 7.
As of this morning, there are still 216 in patients and 12 COVID-19 patients and all of them are being attended to. The emergency room has remained open and will continue to treat orthopedic emergency patients.
Dr. Bengzon appealed for PPEs, specifically face masks as there is a need for hospital staff to double mask.
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