The Department of Health (DOH) advised Covid-19 patients and those experiencing symptoms of the said disease to isolate on election day.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said this will help in preventing the spread of Covid-19 virus.
“Lagi naman nating sinasabi na ang policy natin ay to isolate kung mayroon kang symptoms. So, salungat iyan doon sa ating policy kung sasabihin natin, ‘Ah hindi, kahit na may symptoms puwedeng bumoto (We always say that our policy is to isolate if you have symptoms. So, that’s against our policy if we say, ‘ah no, even with symptoms you can vote’),’” he said during a public briefing on Friday, April 22.
“By and large, ang posisyon ko diyan, kapag may sakit, huwag nang lumabas kasi makakapanghawa pa kayo, mahirap na (my position on that matter is when you are sick, don't go out because you can infect others),” he added.
Duque also did not discount the possibility that elections might be postponed if an area experiences a high number of Covid-19 cases.
“Ngayon, kung ang tanong: Posible bang magkaroon ng postponement? Oo, siyempre. Posible pa rin kung talagang masyadong mataas ang sipa ng mga kaso sa mga piling lugar, (Now, if the question is: Is it possible that there will be a postponement? Yes, of course. It is still possible if the spike in cases is really high in select areas),” he said.
“Well, that is always a possibility, but we will stick to our Alert Leveling System,” he added.
Duque said that they continue to monitor the case trend in different areas of the country.
“So far, patuloy namang bumababa pa rin ang mga kaso natin although may mga iba nga na may nakikita nang bahagyang pagtaas based on the one-week growth rate (our cases are still declining although there are areas that have noted a slight increase based on the one-week growth rate),” he said.
“Posibleng sumipa ang kaso. Kaya huwag na huwag po tayong magluluwag, magpakampante sa pagsunod sa minimum public health standards (It is possible that cases will rise again. So let's not be complacent in following the minimum public health standards),” he added.