President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday announced an enhanced community quarantine in the entire Luzon to stop the spread of the fatal Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.
Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said that Duterte announced the new directive in a meeting with the government Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. The announcement was made just 2 days since the National Capital Region (NCR) was placed under “community quarantine.”
Duterte is expected to make a public address on government measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 after meeting with members of the inter-agency task force.
Based on the Palace memorandum released last Saturday, “enhanced community quarantine” would entail implementation of strict home quarantine, suspension of transportation, regulation of food and essential health services provision and heightened presence of uniformed personnel.
In an earlier press briefing the same day, Panelo bared that Interior Secretary Eduardo Año is supportive of a “total lockdown” in Metro Manila to prevent the number of infected persons from rising.
Department of Health reported that as of March 15, there are already 140 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 12 deaths. Also, a total of 214 patients under investigation (PUIs), 2,389 patients under monitoring (PUMs), and two patients who have recovered.
