Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday insisted the government is “in control” of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis even with the country having 129,913 COVID-19 cases.

He maintained this saying the government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until August 18 with the hospitals being overwhelmed by the number of COVID-19 patients.
Despite its adverse effect on the economy, Año explained the need for a more restricted quarantine protocol that limits people movement.
“We hope the numbers will improve,” Año said in an interview over ANC.
Under MECQ, public transportation is prohibited to operate with several industries closed to restrict public movement.
Año noted that the effects of the MECQ will manifest within the incubation of 14 days.
The DILG chief also emphasized the surge of the COVID-19 cases in the country in the last few days only meant that more tests should be made.
He added that the COVID-19 cases should be extracted from their residents and transferred to the government-run isolation facilities.
Año pointed this out as more or less 3,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the past few days.
But Senator Franklin Drilon noted that the 13 percent positivity rate for COVID-19 in the past few days is very worrisome.
“Well ang ibig sabihin nito may ay unang una marami pa tayong hindi pa natetest na mga suspects. Nakita namin yung pinakamaling problema yung paghohome quarantine ng mga positive persons (Well, this only meant that first and foremost there are many who have not been tested yet. We traced the worst problem is the home quarantine of positive persons),’’ Año said.
He noted the transmission of the virus will worsen if the COVID-19 positive patients are in home quarantine since physical distancing is clearly violated.
Año noted that family members are afflicted with the virus as transmission is widespread when COVID-19 patients are in home quarantine.
“Kahit, ano sabihin nating pagiingat ay talagang may nagbaviolate at kung makikita natin pamipamilya yung tinatamaan ng ating COVID sa ngayon (No matter how hard we try to ombat the disease, there are still many who violate (quarantine protocols) and it can be observed that a huge number of family members are afflicted by COVID at present), he added.
Año explained that the objective of “Oplan:Kalinga’’ the program that extricates suspected COVID-19 patients out of their residence and transferred to the government-run isolation facilities is to combat the transmission of the virus inside the households.
During one of his inspections, Año said that he was surprised to discover that 73 percent of the suspected COVID-19 cases in Laguna are in home quarantine.
“Alam mo naman sa mga maliit na bahay talagang hindi ano yan, hindi yan nakakapagexcercise ng kanilang tinatawag natin na yung, yung pagiisolate (We all know that it small houses, proper isolation will not be exercised),’’ he added.
Año stressed the importance to facilitate contact tracing down to the barangay level saying the need to trace more or less 30 persons they had interaction with in the last 14 days for every one COVID-19 positive individual.
He noted that the DILG had also formed teams that inspect the local government units (LGUs) down to the barangay level to observe their localized lockdowns and process of extraction of COVID-19 suspects from their homes.
Año revealed that he will have to carefully study pertinent data concerning the pandemic before making any recommendations to the President.