IATK OKs COVID-19 roadmap

November 6, 2020

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved the roadmap and implementation plan against coronavirus disease.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. presented the Philippine National COVID-19 Roadmap and Implementation Plan during a meeting Thursday night in Malacanang. President Rodrigo Duterte was present in the meeting.

"The IATF...approved the Philippine National COVID-19 Roadmap and Implementation Plan," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in the "Laging Handa" press briefing on Friday.

Galvez earlier explained that the roadmap includes the scientific evaluation and selection; access and acquisition; procurement process; production, shipment, and storage; distribution and deployment; implementation and nationwide vaccination; and assessment, evaluation, and monitoring.

Under the plan, the government is eyeing to conduct the procurement, production, shipment and storage, among others during the first quarter of next year.

In the same meeting, Roque,  also the spokesman of the IATF, said the task force provisionally adopted the Department of Health's Revised Omnibus Interim Guidelines on Prevention, Detection, Isolation, Treatment and Reintegration Strategies for COVID-19.

The general principles of the guidelines are as follows: strict observance and implementation of minimum public health standards; rational assessment based on symptoms and exposure; facility-based quarantine and isolation, if conditions allow; completion of 14-day quarantine for close contacts of probable and confirmed cases and 10-day isolation for suspect, probable and confirmed cases; using the right test for the right reason; and understanding the use and limitations of available testing technologies.

The IATF also ratified the Joint Memorandum Circular of the DOH, Civil Service Commission and the NTF on the Operational Guidelines of the COVID-19 and Other Emerging Infectious Disease Response in Public Sector Workplaces, Roque added. Celerina Monte/DMS