COVID-19 Updates: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte Press Briefing | August 17, 2020

As of August 17, 2020, 11:00 PM, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte addressed the nation through a recorded speech to provide updates on the COVID-19 situation. Below are the highlights of the briefing:

• PRRD said that the answer to the country’s COVID-19 health crisis is having the vaccine for the virus.
• PRRD thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, for offering to provide the country with the vaccine for distribution to the public as soon as possible.
  • PRRD said he will ask President Putin and President Xi to give the Philippines a credit line so that the payment for the vaccine can be done via installment.
  • He said the country is short of money because all economies around the world have fallen flat, and people cannot work and be productive.
• There were allegations that the PRRD went to Singapore secretly over the weekend. PRRD denied the claims and said that there is no need for him to keep it a secret if he did go to Singapore, especially since he will not be using government funds. He said that all of his past overseas trips have been on official business.
  • He said in the past, in case of personal trips overseas, he would leave Executive Secretary Salvador “Bingbong” Medialdea or Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevara in charge. In case things were not quite good, he’d leave matters to the Secretary of Defense.
• Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is to place the National Capital Region (NCR), Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal back to General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
  • Under the General Community Quarantine, most industries will be open. People can dine in at restaurants, and religious services up to 30% capacity is allowed.
  • Industries that would entail mass gatherings such as entertainment and amusement parks will not be open.
  • This decision was made with certain conditions: the economy needs to be opened along with a “refresh” in the country’s COVID response.
    • This means rigid testing and pilot pooled testing, wherein more people can be tested using one test kit.
  • The government started an initiative called Project Code during the two weeks NCR was in MECQ. This entailed house-to-house visitations to look for symptomatic cases.
    • All those who showed symptoms were swabbed, and those who tested positive were segregated.
    • The government will follow the wide tracing taught by Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, but will have a 1:15 ratio. This follows Magalong’s initial recommendation of 1:37 testing ratio.
    • The government is also putting up more facilities for more hospitals and to expand the country’s capacity to treat COVID-19 patients.
• Sec. Roque announced that 250 COVID-exclusive beds were recently inaugurated in the East Avenue Medical Center. This has helped their critical care capacity.
• Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Bong Vega opened a One Hospital Command Center, wherein people can get referrals on where they should go.
• The government used the two weeks of MECQ to reboot and refresh its COVID approach and to enhance the country’s capacity for testing, tracing, isolation, and treatment.
• Sec. Roque reminded the public that it is important to wear masks, practice social distancing, to wash their hands, and use face shields when one is at work or taking public transportation.
• PRRD expanded Sec. Roque’s earlier statement by saying that the following areas will be under GCQ:
  • NCR
  • Bulacan
  • Cavite
  • Laguna
  • Rizal
  • Nueva Ecija
  • Batangas
  • Quezon province
  • Iloilo City
  • Cebu City
  • Lapu Lapu City
  • Mandaue City
  • Talisay City
  • The Municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion.
• The rest of the Philippines will be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ).
• PRRD said that he wants to ensure people’s safety. However, some sectors of the economy, especially the MSMEs, are barely surviving.
• PRRD clarified that the RT-PCR or antibody based tests are not recommended or required for asymptomatic employees returning to work. However, priority workers in certain sectors may take tests. These are:
  • Hospitals
  • Tourism sector
  • Manufacturing companies
  • Public service providers in economic zones within Special Concern Areas and those of highest COVID-19 cases.
• Employers are highly encouraged to send their employees for testing at no cost to the employees.
• PRRD talked about the serious and grave problems of drug addiction in the country, and he spoke out against human rights groups.

DOH Advisory

As of August 17, 2020, 4:00 PM, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,314 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 164,474 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The DOH also recorded new recoveries at 237, bringing the total number of recoveries to 112,759, while 18 more died, raising the death toll to 2,681.

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For consultations, you may reach the DOH via hotline: ​(02) 894 – COVID (26843) ​or​ 1555 ​(for PLDT, Smart, Sun, and TNT subscriber)

For announcements and public advisories, you may visit the following official DOH channels:

Website: ​https://www.doh.gov.ph/
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Twitter:​https://twitter.com/DOHgovph