Monday, April 26, 2021

DOH: Too early to lift curbs. Inquirer Newsletter April 27, 2021

Regions

Davao City ramps up testing among drivers

As early as 5 a.m. on Monday, public utility jeeps and tricycle drivers here have begun lining up at Crocodile Park to avail themselves of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests offered to them for free at the park’s drive-through. —Story by Carmelito Q. Francisco

Business

Naia privatization plan falls through

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said on Monday efforts to privatize Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) have stopped, ending hopes for significant upgrades and expansion during the pandemic-induced slump in air travel. —Story by Miguel R. Camus

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Banner Story

DOH: Too early to lift curbs

By Dona Z. Pazzibugan

The Department of Health (DOH) and a medical doctors’ group are calling for an extension by at least two more weeks of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and nearby Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan provinces as hospitals are still crowded with COVID-19 patients.“If we look at the data, I firmly believe that we should extend the MECQ for another week or two since our health system capacity has not yet improved much as of now,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday.

President Duterte has placed the National Capital Region (NCR) and the four provinces, dubbed “NCR Plus” bubble, under the less stringent MECQ up to April 30 to ease the impact of the pandemic on the economy, lifting the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) despite the surge in coronavirus cases that filled up hospitals.

“Let us continue the MECQ so we can see a bigger decrease in cases and possibly reverse the trend [of swelling cases] completely,” Duque said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday said the current pandemic situation in the region was still “fragile and unstable” even as health experts were unsure whether the downtrend in the number of cases would continue long enough to improve the economy.

Growth, attack rates

Mayors in the metropolis have yet to finalize their recommendation on the capital region’s quarantine status for the next two weeks, MMDA chief Benhur Abalos said in a television interview. They were still waiting for reports from the country’s economic managers as a consideration to laborers hoping to get back to work, he said.

On Sunday, the MMDA reported that the two-week COVID-19 case growth rate in Metro Manila was at minus-5 percent compared with 164 percent from March 14 to 27. Abalos attributed this improvement to the ECQ and MECQ implemented in NCR and four nearby provinces, and urged residents to strictly follow minimum health standards so that efforts to reduce the number of cases would not be “put to waste.” —WITH REPORTS FROM MEG ADONIS, MARICAR CINCO AND JEROME ANING INQ

Editorial

Pay up, PhilHealth

There is no excuse for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s continuing failure to reimburse hospitals for health claims a year after the pandemic struck, and especially when hospitals are overwhelmed with patients due to the recent surge of COVID-19 infections.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net