The national government has discouraged home-based quarantine for those who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to minimize the risk of transmission within households, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said.
Nograles, also co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said the government will instead be shifting its focus on facility-based quarantine to ensure that disease transmission is controlled.
“We are now discouraging yung tinatawag na mag (what you call) home quarantine. Dapat facility quarantine na e (It should be facility-based quarantine),” the palace official said in an interview over DZBB.
“There would be a higher chance that persons in the same household would contract COVID-19 even if the person who tested positive would self-isolate.”
He warned that there would be a higher chance that persons in the same household will contract COVID-19 even if the person who tested positive will self-isolate.
“So, we’re now shifting that even those asymptomatic should be given facility-based quarantine,” Nograles said.
“There are enough quarantine facilities that could accommodate even mild COVID-19 cases.”
According to him, there are enough quarantine facilities that could accommodate even those with mild COVID-19.
Nograles said the second phase of the government’s National Action Plan against COVID-19 will push for a more proactive implementation of localized lockdowns nationwide.
In a recent meeting with mayors via Zoom, he emphasized the need to impose lockdowns for at least 14 days, not just two to five days.
“Fourteen days dapat kapag nagla-lockdown (A lockdown should be at least 14 days),” Nograles stressed.
The incubation period for COVID-19 takes an average of five to six days. However, it can be as long as 14 days, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19, Nograles also reiterated the importance of observing minimum health and safety standards such as physical distancing, wearing of face masks, and frequent handwashing.
Currently, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is enhancing its contact tracing efforts by hiring more contact tracers.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año is also encouraging those who think they may have been in contact with a possible COVID-19 patient to present themselves for testing.