Only the health experts can say when the country would witness the end of the coronavirus pandemic, acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.
Nograles stated this in a press briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 15, when asked if they see an end to the two-year-old pandemic before the end of President Duterte's term.
"Yung (The) end of pandemic--that's actually a technical and medical term, so we will leave that up to the health experts to define and actually state kung narating na ba natin yang point na yan (if we have already reached that point)," he said.
"Pero ang importante is that para marating yang state na 'yan importante po na mataas ang vaccination coverage natin and lahat tayo ay nagco-comply sa (But what's important is in order to reach that state, our vaccination coverage must be high and all are complying to the) minimum public health standards," he added.
The Cabinet Secretary also disclosed that the national action plan phase 5 which will also be turned over to Duterte's successor is now being prepared.
He further said that the national action plan includes the next phase against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) "which is protecting our community, our people, while accelerating the country's economic growth."
"'Yang document na 'yan (That document) plus all the accomplishments in terms of vaccination rate, compliance with the safety seal, compliance with minimum public health standards of establishments. Lahat po 'yan ang itu-turn over namin sa (All of that will be turned over to the) next administration," Nograles said.
He also said that at present, the interagency task force (IATF) is finalizing the roadmap to alert level 1 for the National Capital Region (NCR) and other regions that have fulfilled all requirements and conditions for alert level 1.
He added that a big part of that roadmap to alert level 1 "has to do a lot with compliance of the establishments with the minimum public health standards," stressing the need for establishments to secure safety seals.