DepEd to await DOH advisory before issuing COVID-19 response

The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Saturday that it would wait for an advisory from the Department of Health (DOH)-Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases before issuing its response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

"DepEd is ready to implement all necessary proportionate response to the latest developments upon receipt of the definitive advisory from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Monday," the Education Department said on Twitter.

The inter-agency task force was scheduled to meet on Monday.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Leonor Briones was also seeking input from the DOH for guidelines on how to conduct the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) and National Festival of Talents (NFOT) in light of the recent COVID-19 cases.

On Saturday, Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco urged the DepEd to pass all students in his city for the school year amid the spread of the virus.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, Tiangco suggested that schools could simply use students' average grades for the past quarters as their final grades. 

Last February, the DepEd said that it allowed the suspension of classes in school and areas where there were confirmed cases of the virus.

On Saturday, there were six COVID-19 cases in the country, with more than 100,000 people around the world infected with COVID-19. — Angelica Y. Yang/DVM, GMA News