IREREKOMENDA ni Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion sa Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases ang unti-unting pag-aalis ng quarantine restrictions sa sandaling humupa ang mas nakahahawang Omicron variant.
Sa Go Negosyo forum, sinabi ni Concepcion na ang Thailand at Switzerland ay inalis na ang kanilang quarantine rules sa kabila ng COVID-19 pandemic.
Ayon kay Concepcion, kailangan nang magpatupad ang bansa ng home-based quarantine sa halip na facility-based quarantine. Aniya, hindi naman nakatulong ang quarantine para mapigilan ng bansa ang COVID-19 variants tulad ng Delta at Omicron.
“We’re not suggesting that we implement the no quarantine immediately. What I’m proposing to our IATF members is that a gradual move towards the removal of quarantine in the Philippines and moving towards home-based rather than facility-based quarantine,” ani Concepcion.
“My own view is that it has not actually helped us from preventing Delta or Omicron from entering the country. You can see in two-weeks time, Omicron has swamped NCR and basically, if we look at the positivity rate in the Philippines and America, it’s about the same,” dagdag pa niya.
Para kay Concepcion, hindi maaaring magpatuloy ang bansa sa pag-lock sa sarili nito at hindi rin nito maaaring ipagpatuloy ang paghihigpit sa galaw ng mga tao.
“That is something that we are looking to discuss more with key people in IATF… let’s plan so that as we plan last year to save the fourth quarter… as we see Omicron start to subside, then maybe we can move towards a gradual phase out of our quarantine in the country,” dagdag pa ni Concepcion.
Kahapon, Enero 21, ay iniulat ng Department of Health (DOH) ang 32,744 bagong kaso ng COVID-19, upang umakyat ang total tally ng Pilipinas sa 3,357,083.
Ang spike sa COVID-19 infections ngayong buwan ay itinuturo sa Omicron variant, subalit nilinaw ng DOH na may iba pa ring salik tulad ng pagtaas sa mobility ng publiko, lalo na noong holiday season.