Malacañang said the government's pandemic task force is currently monitoring several cities and provinces outside the National Capital Region (NCR) because of the rise of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases being observed in the said areas.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made the statement as the current alert levels that are being implemented in the different areas of the country near their expiration on January 31.
In an interview with CNN Philippines' "The Source" on Wednesday morning, January 26, Nograles said that the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Diseases are currently monitoring Calabarzon, Central Luzon, the Ilocos Region, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). It is also looking at:
- Baguio City
- Cebu City
- Cebu Province
- Lapu-Lapu City
- Mandaue City
- Iloilo Province
- Iloilo City
- Bacolod City
- Cagayan de Oro City
- Davao City
- General Santos City
- Ormoc City
- Naga City
- Dagupan City
- Western Samar
- Tacloban City
- Biliran
- Zamboanga del Sur
"While cases in NCR, and in fact some areas in Region IV-A and Region III, are slowing down in terms of the growth rate of COVID-19, we're seeing higher growth rates in those areas," he said.
According to Nograles, the task force, through the regional IATFs, is constantly monitoring the numbers per region and has close coordination with the local government units (LGUs).
Measures
To address the spike in COVID-19 cases, Nograles said the regional IATFs are ordered to ensure the increase in bed capacities and to make sure that only severe and critical cases are in hospitals.
"What we want to do is increase the dedicated COVID beds in those areas para hindi mag-breach ng 70 percent ang (so that they will not breach 70 percent in terms of) bed utilization. So we have to increase the number of beds," Nograles said.
"You have to make sure that your isolation facilities are makakatanggap ng mga (can accommodate) moderate, mild cases. We're also beefing up in telemedicine, teleconsult, to prepare yung (for the) home isolation," he added.
The acting Palace spokesman said another option was to declare granular lockdowns and to boost the triage or referral system which will determine if a patient should be transferred to a hospital, an isolation facility, or just undergo home quarantine.