Duterte to address nation Thursday amid COVID-19 scare

President Rodrigo Duterte will address the nation on Thursday night amid the continued rise in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country, Malacañang said.

The Palace did not provide details of the possible content of the President’s address.

Prior to this, Duterte will be meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at 5 p.m. in Malacañang to discuss the adoption of further measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told GMA News Online.

Guevarra is a member of the IATF-EID.

The proposed measures were prepared by the Technical Advisory Group led by Dr. Edsel Salvana of the University of the Philippines-Manila National Institutes of Health, according to presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

“The contents of the resolution will be announced to the public following the approval by the President,” Panelo said.

Since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, the number of confirmed infections globally surpassed 118,000.

The virus has already killed more than 4,200 people, including two in the Philippines, which is now under a state of public health emergency.

The World Health Organization declared on Wednesday the viral outbreak a pandemic. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News