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.
"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.