{"id":251457,"date":"2020-04-07T02:57:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T06:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=251457"},"modified":"2020-04-07T02:57:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T06:57:15","slug":"duterte-approves-luzon-wide-ecq-extension-until-april-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/07\/duterte-approves-luzon-wide-ecq-extension-until-april-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte approves Luzon-wide ECQ extension until April 30"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: LOCKDOWN. The town of Santa Cruz in Laguna can be likened into a “ghost town” after Mayor Edgar San Luis ordered a lockdown on Thursday (March 26, 2020). (PNA photo by Jess M. Escaros Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the extension of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until April 30 to curb the transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

In a virtual presser on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles confirmed that Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).<\/p>\n

\u201cVinerify po namin ulit at ang sagot po ay ang<\/em>\u00a0(We verified it with him again and his answer is the) enhanced community quarantine is hereby extended until 11:59 p.m. of April 30,\u201d Nograles, also IATF spokesperson, said.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the IATF arrived at its decision since lifting the quarantine as scheduled on April 12 would be \u201ctoo early\u201d to allow medical experts to assess whether the rate of infection had slowed down.<\/p>\n

Another reason to push for an extension, he said, is to allow more time to boost Luzon\u2019s health capacity as mass testing is expected to start on April 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya po humihingi tayo ng<\/em>\u00a0extension up to April 30\u00a0para ma<\/em>-measure\u00a0po talaga natin ano yung naging<\/em>\u00a0full effect\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0ECQ,\u00a0pangalawa para ma-<\/em>increase\u00a0pa natin lalo yung<\/em>\u00a0health capacity\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Luzon\u00a0at ng buong bansa<\/em>\u00a0(The reason why we are asking for an extension up to April 30 is to measure the full effect of the ECQ and to increase the health capacity of Luzon and the whole country),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Citing medical experts, he said the incubation period for Covid-19 is on average 5 to 14 days which means they would only able to assess the full effect of the ECQ from March 29 to mid-April.<\/p>\n

Every Monday, experts will report the \u201cprogression of the disease\u201d per region to the IATF, he added.<\/p>\n

With more Covid-19 test kits in stock, he said experts also said the government should be able to conduct 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day and results should also be released within a 24-hour turnaround time.<\/p>\n

Once the country\u2019s existing subnational laboratories are maximized, he said the government will be able to conduct as many as 13,000 to 20,000 tests per day by April 27<\/p>\n

The government should also be able to immediately isolate patients under investigation (PUIs) and persons under monitoring (PUMs) and enhance its contact tracing, he said.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he said Filipinos should also have observed better self-screening protocol.<\/p>\n

He said the government goal is to flatten the curve or slow the rate of infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung lahat po ng ito ay magagawa natin, sinasabi ng mga eksperto, maaari nating ma-push pa lalo yung<\/em>\u00a0peak\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19\u00a0dito sa Pilipinas<\/em>\u00a0as far as year 2021 (If we are able to do this, experts say, we can push the peak of Covid-19 in the Philippines as far as year 2021),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Should the ECQ be \u201crelaxed\u201d by April 30, Nograles said physical distancing must \u201cremain constant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0ito yung sinasabi nating magta-<\/em>transition\u00a0tayo<\/em>\u00a0(So this is what we are saying that we will have transition) to the new normal. And the new normal, ladies and gentlemen, is social, physical distancing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he also expressed hope that a vaccine would have been developed by 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can push back and maintain that\u00a0hanggang<\/em>\u00a0(until) 2021. By 2021, hopefully a vaccine is found,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The entire Luzon is currently under an enhanced community quarantine from which strictly requires residents to stay indoors and limits movement to accessing basic necessities and heightens the presence of uniformed personnel.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the Department of Health said there are a total of 3,660 cases of Covid-19 in the country, 163 deaths and 73 recoveries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the extension of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until April 30 to curb …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":251458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251459,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251457\/revisions\/251459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}