The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the parameters that will be used to decide on the total or partial lifting, or the possible extension of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Saturday these parameters were discussed and approved during the regular teleconference meeting of IATF on Friday.

Nograles said the parameters includes the social factors, economic factors, security factors, “the trends in the COVID-19 epidemiological curve, which include, among others, the doubling time, acceleration, or deceleration of new cases” and the “capacity of the health care system, which includes, among others, the number and availability of quarantine, isolation, and treatment facilities; the capability to mount contact tracing; availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to frontliners, and the testing capacity of the country.”

“For this purpose, the Department of Health (DOH) is hereby directed to convene all concerned agencies and to finalize the aggregation and analysis of all relevant data applicable to the contained area, subject to the deliberation of the IATF and final determination by the President,” he said.

“Provided, that the same sub-technical working group (TWG) is likewise directed to apply said parameters and come up with recommendations with regard to the possible implementation of a general or enhanced community quarantine in localities in the Visayas and Mindanao,” he added.

Nograles said the DOH with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is also directed to draft “necessary guidelines for the utilization of FDA-approved COVID-19 rapid test kits, such as, but not limited to, lateral flow assay kits, to rationalize testing protocols as well as to complement the existing capacity of the country to conduct reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.”

He said during the meeting “the Interim Guidelines on the Repatriation of Land-Based Overseas Filipinos as revised by the IATF sub-TWG on the management of repatriated Overseas Filipinos (OFWs)” was also approved.

“The IATF sub-TWG is directed to include the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) as members,” he added.

Nograles said the IATF also “authorizes the technical visit of 12 medical experts from the People’s Republic of China, who will assist government efforts in addressing the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines subject to ratification by the Office of the President.”

He also mentioned that the “Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), and health insurance providers, shall be considered as part of health frontline services, for purposes of exempting their workers in the implementation of the ECQ.”

Nograles said during the meeting an IATF sub-technical working group was also created to study the how nformation and communications technology solutions will be used on the government’s program against COVID-19.

These sub-group will be “composed of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as chair, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Education (DepEd), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), the National Privacy Commission (NPC), the National Security Council (NSC), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and other agencies.” Robina Asido/DMS