COVID-19 Updates: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte Press Briefing | July 31, 2020

July 31, 2020

As of July 31, 2020, 9:00 AM, 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 shared that the government’s Roadmap to Recovery could not be developed due to the lack of funds and infrastructure for research. He shared that he is hopeful that the situation would be back to normal by December 2020.
• PRRD enumerated various brands and organizations that are developing a vaccine and reiterated that the Philippines’ good relationship with China will help in securing vaccines for everyone when it is available.
  • PRRD also read a letter from the Chinese Embassy which guarantees the priority of the Philippines once the development has been successful.
• Once the vaccine is already at hand, PRRD said that he will prioritize providing free treatments to those in the marginalized sector and those in the hospitals, followed by the middle-income earners and the uniformed personnel of the police and military.
• PRRD tasked the military to facilitate the distribution of the vaccine to counter any challenges similar to what was experienced during the provision of support over the course of the pandemic.
• Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III reported that the vaccines from China, UK, and the US are already in the advanced development stage, and this may already be approved by their respective Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Trials are expected to be completed by October, and approval may come in by December.
  • Sec. Dominguez mentioned that it is up to the DOH to select which vaccine will be purchased.
  • A minimum of 20 million is being forecasted to receive free vaccination in the country. Should it require two shots for the treatment, a total of 40 million doses are needed to complete this.
  • It is estimated that the total cost is around USD 400 million or Php 20 billion, to be paid over two to three years via the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). 
  • The purchase is planned to be routed through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Philippine International Trading Corporation and will be turned over to the DOH for application.
  • Sec. Dominguez estimated that the total retail price for the vaccine will be around Php 1,200, which is inclusive of the shots, service, and transportation.
• Sec. Dominguez reported that the Philippine economy is already beginning to recover and estimated that the lowest point was back in April and May. Business activity is expected to pick up steadily. To support this, more transportation needs to be available and people must be encouraged to start spending.
  • Sec. Dominguez also shared that the inflation rate of the country is relatively low and that the Philippine peso is strongest in Asia. 
• PRRD encouraged the Filipinos to continue following health and safety protocols until the vaccine is ready and available.
• The areas in General Community Quarantine are:
  • National Capital Region (NCR)
  • Bulacan
  • Batangas
  • Laguna
  • Cavite
  • Rizal
  • Cebu City
  • Lapu-Lapu City
  • Mandaue
  • Zamboanga City
  • Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque enumerated the conditions for areas under GCQ:
    • Strict localized lockdown or Enhanced Community Quarantine in barangays that have 80% confirmed cases. 
    • Stringent implementation of minimum health standards.
    • Implementation of massive targeted testing, intensified tracing, and quarantine of those in close contact.
    • Sec. Roque shared that there are already 10 million testing kits available for use for these barangays.
      • The DOH is currently conducting pool testing where one testing kit may be used by 10 individuals. Pilot studies will be used in these barangays.
    • Strict enforcement of Oplan Kalinga for those who do not have their own quarantine facilities.
    • Bed allotments in government hospitals will be increased from 30% to 50%, while private hospitals will be increased from 20% to 30% of their capacity to accommodate more COVID-19 patients.
    • Local government units are urged to submit data via the COVID-Kaya Platform for effective monitoring, and their plans on the strict enforcement of minimum health public health standards for priority areas and barangays. 
    • The Regional Inter-Agency Task Force has been directed to oversee the health system performance capacity and strict compliance to surveillance, isolation, and treatment protocols.
    • Sec. Roque reiterated that all provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) must observe minimum public health standards, uniformed implementation in high risk areas, localized community quarantine and availability of identified quarantine facilities in priority critical areas with community transmission, immediate facility-based isolation for all returning Filipinos, and scaling up of local health system capacity for community isolation and critical care.
• The rest of the Philippines is under Modified General Community Quarantine.
• Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones thanked PRRD for expressing his support during the SONA on the blended learning approach for the education sector.
• Sec. Briones reported that as of July 30, 2020, 22.3 million learners have already enrolled on the assumption that classes will start on August 24. 
  • Enrollees in the public sector are already at 92% while those in the private sector are still at 31% only.
  • Face-to-face learning is expected to resume in 2021, with strict health standards to be implemented.
  • Sec. Briones reassured that they are ready to open on August 24 following the success of the different simulations and dry run that they’ve conducted.
• Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año reported that they recently had a signing of a Joint Memorandum Circular with different departments on the application of license, permits, and clearance for shared passive telecom infrastructure. The approval duration has been shortened to 16-20 days.

DOH Advisory

As of July 30, 2020, 4:00 PM, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,954 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 89,374 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The DOH also recorded the highest number of new recoveries at 38,075, bringing the total number of recoveries to 65,064, while 23 more died, raising the death toll to 1,983.

The DOH reported that the sudden spike in recoveries was due to the reclassification of confirmed mild and asymptomatic cases and were tagged as recovered, as part of Oplan Recovery.

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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:
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