COVID-19 now responsibility of LGUs, private sector, says NTF chief

July 30, 2020

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 is now banking on the local government units, private sector and each individual to effectively manage the coronavirus cases in the country.

In a virtual press briefing on Thursday, NTF Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. noted the continued surge in the number of COVID-19 cases after the government loosened up restrictions and opened the economy.

"So, this is one of the challenges on how we could address this emerging issue. So, in order to effectively manage COVID cases, the responsibility now shifts on the LGU and to the private companies and to the individual citizen," he said.

He echoed what President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that the national government could not handle the COVID-19 crisis alone.

"That's why we are enjoining all the LGUs,  private companies and individual citizen to share the responsibility by having what we call the localized lockdown in barangay and street, building and massive education info campaign for the strict enforcement and discipline on the minimum health standard," Galvez said.

He urged all  barangay captains, policemen and the military to implement and enforce the minimum health standard, such as wearing of face masks, washing of hands, and keeping a one meter distance with each other.

With the surge in COVID-19 cases, Galvez said the government will conduct aggressive testing, especially during the lockdown and to do effective contact tracing.

He said the NTF, through tracing czar Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, is using the formula "1 is to 37" in contact tracing wherein in one positive case, there are 37 close contacts.

The government is also conducting aggressive isolation.

Galvez said the government is constructing more isolation facilities and increasing the ICU bed capacity of some public hospitals.

In the same briefing, Magalong lamented the low contact tracing efficiency of possible COVID-19 infections.

He said of those 614 local government units out of 1,800 who responded in the questionnaire, "only 0.68 percent" have acknowledged they have established contact tracing capability.

"That's what we're focusing now, it will be form part of our strategy to train all of them - those that they need to study, the cognitive interviewing skills and at the same time the use of  different analytical tools and the use of the other technologies that are available," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS