By John Clifford Lintao
TOP government officials who would be infected with COVID-19 would soon be joining hundreds or thousands of ordinary citizens in government-designated quarantine facilities as the Department of Health underscored the need to immediately effect the proposal of COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force to prohibit home quarantine for COVID-19 patients and their close contacts to prevent community transmission.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire supported Interior Secretary Eduardo Año’s call for a ban on home quarantine and that such measure will be enforced within a week.
“Based on observations of the National Task Force, marami ang naka-home quarantine at preferred ito ng mga tao, at nagkakaroon ng community transmission. Kaya ayon po sa proposal ng National Task Force, mas preferred na po ng gobyerno na iyong mga symptomatic at mga close contact [ng COVID-19 patients] ay ma-isolate sa TTMF instead of home quarantine,” Vergeire said.
The health official said as of September 5, which is the latest available data, 84.9 percent of 1,742 clusters of COVID-19 cases in the country are due to community transmission.
Meanwhile, as of September 6, at least 41 percent of the 167,000 beds in state-run quarantine facilities are occupied.
The highest occupancy rate at 59 percent is recorded in Metro Manila where the bulk of COVID-19 cases are, followed by Region 5 at 56 percent, and Region 2 at 51 percent.
The Cordillera Administrative Region, Region 3, and Region 4, on the other hand, did not meet the minimum standard of having one bed in a quarantine facility per 2,500 of the population.