Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who chairs the National Task Force on COVID-19, has announced the conditions on how coronavirus-positive persons would be allowed to go on home quarantine.
First, the house where the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) patient would be quarantined must have a separate room that has its own comfort room.Second, the priority for confinement on home quarantine would be given to senior citizens who are not advised to be taken to an isolation facility due to psychological and other effects.
Lorenzana made the statement as he expressed support on the proposal of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to ban home quarantine.
"(A) large part of the spike in infections recently were from the so-called 'home quarantined' people. The main issue of home quarantine is that without the correct facility at home, the quarantine is not properly observed thereby infecting the whole family," said Lorenzana.
The ban on home quarantine came as the government has already finished building several isolation and treatment facilities for COVID-19 patients.
Aside from the two factors that would exempt a COVID-19 patient from being taken to isolation facilities, those who would be allowed to go on home quarantine must also be regularly checked by Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams or the Municipal Health Officer for any signs or symptoms.The proposal to ban home quarantine is yet to be approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) MEID). If approved, it shall be implemented through a joint memorandum circular of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Health (DoH).