Dizon: House-to-house search for COVID-19 patients is no police operation

Oplan Kalinga—the government’s plan to visit houses to look for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and transfer them to government isolation and treatment facilities—is not a police operation, testing czar Vince Dizon said Thursday.

Dizon made the clarification after Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said that local government and police officers will go house-to-house and bring COVID-19 patients to isolation facilities.

Año later said that local health and government officials would lead the house to house and the police will only be there to assist them.

“Secretary Año was very much misquoted and misunderstood by the media. There will be no policemen knocking on doors and picking up people,” Dizon said in an ANC interview.

“That is false. That is not going to happen,” he added.

The search for the mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients whose homes are not suitable for a home quarantine, Dizon said, will only involve the local government units and the barangay health workers.

“We have done this in Navotas and Malabon, and we assisted as much as 100 of our citizens and brought them to our quarantine facilities. This has been done very well,” he said.

“Huwag po tayong matakot. Para po sa kapakanan ninyo ito at kapakanan ng inyong mahal sa buhay,” Dizon added.

The Philippines has recorded 58,850 COVID-19 cases, as of July 15. Of this number, 20,976 recovered while 1,614 died.

There are 36,260 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 90.6 percent of which are mild, 8.6 percent are asymptomatic, 0.4 percent are severe, and 0.5 percent are in critical condition.—AOL, GMA News