Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Spokesperson appealed to the Filipinos to stay home for at least two weeks to mitigate the spread of the more transmissible coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Omicron variant.
"I think ang dapat talaga ay tighter implementation. Kahit Alert Level 3 at nakita na ng mga tao na sumipa na yung mga bilang because of we think might be the Omicron variant, marami pa rin po akong nakikitang lumalabas at siksikan sa mga public transport (I think there should be a tighter implementation. Even though we're at Alert Level 3 and our COVID cases are soaring because of we think might be the Omicron, a lot of people are still going out and public transportations are still jam-packed)," Dr. Jonas del Rosario said in an interview over TeleRadyo.
To ensure minimal risk of contracting COVID-19, he urged the public to suspend non-essential travel and stay home as the country logged its biggest single-day COVID-19 tally on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 26,458.
"I'm not sure if it's the level or the implementation of the alert level might be really the solution. Ang praktikal namin na payo, kung pwede po kahit mga dalawang linggo wag na po muna tayong lumabas at yung lalabas na lang ay yung essential workers (Our practical advice, if possible for at least two weeks, let's not go out and only go out if you're essential workers)," Del Rosario said.
"It's more of a self-imposed, self-quarantine for every household na lang po. I'm sure alam nyo rin may mga kaibigan kayo, kapamilya na hawa-hawa naman sila because they went to the same gathering, na-expose sila so everybody should really be isolating themselves muna, follow the 10-day isolation para hindi ho lumaganap (I'm sure you know that you have friends or family members who got infected because they went to the same gathering, they were exposed. So everybody should really be isolating themselves first, follow the 10-day isolation so it the virus doesn't spread)," he added.