ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider COVID-19 uptick 'concerning, worrisome'; prevention measures vital --- Nograles

COVID-19 uptick 'concerning, worrisome'; prevention measures vital --- Nograles

Published Dec 29, 2021 02:55 pm

Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles admitted feeling "concerned" and "worried" on Wednesday, Dec. 29 over the apparent uptick in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles (Photo from Cabinet Secretariat Facebook page)

"Nagtatanong ang taumbayan, bakit tumataas ? Dahil nakakalimutan yung 'iwas'. Ganun lang po ka-simple yan (The citizenry is asking, why are daily COVID-19 cases going up? It's because we're forgetting the 'avoid' part. It's that simple)," Nograles said in a virtual press conference.

Nograles, who also serves as spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), was referring to the national government's mantra of "mask, hugas, iwas, bakuna (wearing of masks, washing of hands, avoiding crowded places, vaccination)" amid the persisting pandemic.

"Kaya po pa-ulit ulit nating nireremind (That's why we always remind the public of this)," he said.

"So of course we are getting concerned, of course we are getting worried. At dapat lang...Lahat po dapat tayo any maging concerned. (And that's just right...We should all be concerned)," underscored Nograles.

He then called on local government units (LGUs) in the coutnry to implement small-scale granular lockdowns in the respective areas if they find the need for it.

"Kaya ang panawagan, LGUs, please enforce. Pag may tumataas ang bilang ng kaso, granular lockdown. Hindi po nawala sa equation ang granular lockdown at responsibilidad po ng LGU na mag-granular lockdown kapag may nakita kayong clustering of cases (Our appeal is for LGUs to please enforce granular lockdowns if they is an increase in cases. Granular lockdowns were never removed from the equation and it's the responsibility of the LGUs to impose granular lockdowns if you see a clustering of cases)," he said.

Granular lockdowns are allowed under the Alert Level System (ALS) for COVID-19 response, which is now being implemented nationwide. The ALS replaced the region-fixed quarantine classification system of the past year.

Granular lockdowns can be carried out in an area as small as a barangay or even a street within an LGU.

Nograles reminded Filipinos during the presser that the battle against COVID-19 is a shared responsibility of all, and not just the local or national government.

"Wag nating sayangin ang lahat ng pinaghirapan po nating lahat (Let's not waste all of our hard work)," he said.

Related Tags

Karlo Nograles LGUs covid-19 increase uptick 122921 concerned worried mask hugas iawas bakuna granukar lockdown IATF
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; } }

{{ articles_filter_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.