Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the government is doing its best to address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic but pointed out that the country's success lies in the people's compliance with health protocols.
Nograles made the statement after the Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday announced that it has detected 10 more cases of the COVID-19 Indian variant in the country, bring the total number of infections of the B.1.617 strain to 12.
In an interview with Super Radyo DZBB, Nograles, who co-chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the government has set guidelines that should be implemented across the country.
"Si Pangulo na mismo ang nagsabi na dapat mas mahigpit na yung pagpapatupad ng preventive protocols natin (President Duterte said so himself that we should be more strict in implementing our preventive protocols)," he said Sunday.
"Kami naman sa IATF, siyempre meron tayong mga guidelines, mga polisiya na pinapatupad kasama ng mga kapulisan natin, barangay, local chief executives, pati ang Pangulo mismo (We in the IATF have guidelines and policies being enforced by the police, barangays, local chief executives, and even the President himself)," he added.
However, Nograles said the fight against the pandemic always starts with prevention and that this step lies with the people.
"Nasa kamay talaga ng ating mga kababayan dahil kahit anong guidelines ang gagawin natin, kahit na istrikto (No matter what guidelines we establish and no matter how strict we enforce them, it's still in the hands of the people)," he said.
Meanwhile, Nograles said that the government has been pressing charges against those who are not complying with or implementing minimum health standards.
"Lahat 'yan ginagawa natin pero siyempre nasa kamay ng bawat isa (The government has been doing those things but in the end, it's still in our hands)," he said.
"Lahat naman 'yan, kahit anong pag-e-enforce natin kung nagpapalusot ang kung sino-sino man, dito tayo nagkakaproblema (We're doing everything but no matter how we enforce this, but if there are people who will try to work around it, we will have a problem)," he added.
The country has been facing a spike in COVID-19 cases, forcing Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal to revert to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March.
The five areas, collectively known as the NCR-plus bubble, returned to the general community quarantine (GCQ), albeit a stricter version, on Thursday and will stay under the said classification until the end of the month.