ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Quarantine restrictions will remain until 50 percent of population gets vaccinated -- Lorenzana

Quarantine restrictions will remain until 50 percent of population gets vaccinated -- Lorenzana

Published Jul 7, 2021 04:46 pm

The national government will continue to enforce quarantine restrictions amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic until at least 50 percent of the country's more than 100 million population is vaccinated.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana attends a pre-SONA forum on July 7, 2021 ahead of Pres. Duterte's final SONA. (Screenshot courtesy of RTVM livestream)

This was declared by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana during the virtual pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum of the Peace and Order Cluster of the government on Wednesday, July 7.

"Mahirap pa magbigay ng timeline kung kalian ili-lift ang restrictions. Unang una, hindi pa malaking numero ang nababakunahan at hindi pa na-a-acquire ang herd immunity (It's hard to set a timeline as to when the restrictions will be lifted First of all, the number of vaccinated population is not taht big and we have yet to achieve herd immunity)," said Lorenzana, who is also the chairman of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, the primary enforcer of all pandemic-related policies.

"Hangga't hindi nababakunahan maybe ang 50 percent of our population baka manatili ang restrictions (Until 50 percent of our population is yet to be vaccinated, maybe the restrictions will remain in place)," he added.

However, he clarified that the quarantine restrictions will not be as strict as compared to what was implemented last year during the first outbreak of COVID-19.

"Hindi naman kasinggrabe ng ECQ pero (It may not be as strict as ECQ but) there's still some restrictions just to prevent the spread of the virus," he stated.

"Lahat kami sa IATF gusto rin namin na matanggal na itong restrictions dahil nakikita natin ang paghihirap ng mga mamamayan. Kaya nga lang, dapat makinig tayo sa mga eksperto, sa mga doktor at experts, at alam nila ang characteristics ng virus na ito (All of us in the IATF want to remove these restrictions because we see the predicament of the people. However, we need to listen to the experts and doctors who know the characteristics of this virus)," he noted.

Lorenzana reiterated that all the pandemic-related policies crafted by the IATF, which are implemented by the NTF, are based on science and facts.

"Hindi lang namin basta sinasabi na lockdown kundi kino-konsulta namin sila (We don't just decide hastily on imposing lockdowns but we consult them )," the Defense chief said.

As of July 5, a total of 11.9 million doses of vaccines have already been administered nationwide. More than nine million individuals have receieved their first dose while 2.9 million got their second dose and were fully vaccinated.

The NTF aims to vaccinate around 70 million Filipinos by year-end to achieve herd immunity.

The government kicked off a series of pre-SONA fora to present the accomplishments and plans of President Duterte ahead of his sixth and final SONA on July 26.

Related Tags

quarantine restrictions pre-SONA forum covid-19 Delfin Lorenzana pandemic
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.