The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has allowed more businesses nationwide to resume operations amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Malacañang said Friday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the IATF has approved the reopening of driving schools, traditional cinemas, and video and interactive-game arcades in the country.
Roque said libraries, archives, museums, and cultural centers have also been authorized to operate amid the pandemic.
Also approved is the reopening of limited tourist attractions like parks, theme parks, natural sites, and historical landmarks, he said.
The IATF, he said, has also agreed to allow the conduct of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, and limited social events at credited establishments of the Department of Tourism.
He said strict observance of minimum public health standards set by the Department of Health should be observed by businesses that are allowed to resume activities amid the pandemic.
“The reopening and further expansion shall be subject to the issuance of the implementing guidelines which will provide for the operational capacity, and oversight of the appropriate regulatory agency and the concerned local government units where these businesses or industries are located,” he said.
The IATF-EID’s latest decision came after President Rodrigo Duterte expressed concern over the current state of the economy.
The country’s economic team is calling for the further relaxation of quarantine rules to revive the economy.
During the Laging Handa briefing, Roque said the IATF has decided to give more sectors the chance to operate since there is no increase in the COVID-19 attack rate and utilization rate.
Duterte on Monday vowed to take necessary steps to ensure that the economy remains afloat.
Starting Feb.15, religious gatherings will also be increased from 30 percent to 50 percent of capacity in areas under general community quarantine, Roque said.
Relaxing of restrictions for religious gatherings comes before the start of the Catholic Lenten season on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17.
“Specifically, religious gatherings in GCQ areas shall be allowed up to 50 percent of the seating or venue capacity,” Roque said.
For the month of February, areas under GCQ are Metro Manila, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Batangas province, Tacloban City, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Iligan City. The rest of the country is under a modified GCQ.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles has said that the existing health and safety protocols would be followed in the observance of Ash Wednesday.
“The same rule implemented last year should apply this year because our health and safety protocols remain in effect,” Nograles said.
The Department of Health (DOH) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Friday released guidelines on the resumption of face-to-face classes, limiting these to medical and health-related courses in areas with low COVID-19 cases.
Schools in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified general community quarantine (MGCQ)— the two lowest levels of restriction— will only be allowed to resume physical classes if they have following courses: Medicine, Nursing, Medical Technology, Medical Laboratory Science, Physical Therapy, Midwifery, and Public Health.
“Face-to-face delivery [is] delimited to specialized laboratory courses or hospital-based clinical/clerkship/internship/practicum, including clinical rotations for post-graduate medical interns,” according to Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2021-001.
“Interns shall not be allowed to rotate in the emergency room, out-patient department, and COVID wards, but only be allowed to rotate in non-COVID units,” it said.
Schools are disallowed from conducting physical classes outside their respective campuses, it said.
Those in areas under MGCQ must submit applications to their respective CHED regional offices, while those under GCQ need to “have base hospitals catering to COVID-19 patients.”
Face-to-face classes “shall revert to implementing flexible learning” should areas be placed under stricter quarantine, it said.
“All other degree programs and courses not identified as a priority… shall be delivered through flexible learning,” it said.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier allowed the resumption of face-to-face classes for medical and health-related courses, saying the country must not run out of health workers during the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that the agency is preparing to hold dry runs for the limited physical classes for senior high school students.
The Philippines logged 2,022 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total to 545,300, as four laboratories failed to submit their data on time, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
This was the first time this month that the DOH has reported over 2,000 cases, breaking its 11-day streak since the beginning of February.
There were 26 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 11,495, which is 2.11 percent of total cases.
The DOH also reported 333 persons have recently recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 500,654, which is 91.8 percent of the total.
This left3 3,151 active cases, which is 6.1 percent of the total. Of the active cases, 86.9 percent are mild; 7.8 percent are asymptomatic; 2.4 percent are critical; 2.3 percent are severe; and 0.63 percent are moderate.