Duterte says return to lockdown possible amid new COVID-19 variant

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said the government might be forced to place the Philippines under a lockdown again in case the new coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom enters and spreads in the country.

"Actually iyong lockdown is a possibility. I said we are making some projections. But if the severity in numbers would demand that we take corrective measures immediately then well just have to go back to lockdown," said Duterte during a meeting with IATF members and health experts in Malacanang.

Duterte, however, clarified that putting the country under a lockdown anew will "depend on the severity in number... in the meantime [that] we are not able to confront them effectively."

"Kasi 'pag marami na [ang cases with the new variant] and we do not have the antidote how to kill those variants, we have a problem there," he added.

National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the government might enforce again a tighter lockdown, but not after the IATF agrees on a "threshold."

"I think the IATF should put a threshold kung ilan araw-araw lumalabas na ano, then we might enforce again tighter lockdown. Kung bababa lang siya ng 2 or 3 below maybe... mag-usap tayo para sa threshold, para automatic lockdown tayo," said Lorenzana.

'No need for another locdown'

For his part, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said the COVID-19 situation in the country remains manageable, but said the government should watch out for the country's international borders.

"Right now, there is no necessity to call for a lockdown... But we have to close the border if there is a real situation that will occur later on," he said.

Dr. Marissa Alejandria  of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases echoed Año's sentiment on another lockdown.

"The mode of transmission remains the same respiratory droplet and this virus, we expect the mutations. So to impose a lockdown or travel restriction will not be sustainable in the long run," she said, adding that the minimum public health protocols are the standards that need to be implemented.  

'Discreet investigation'

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the government’s COVID-19 response, said the government should take "pro-active measures" in light of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom.

Among these measures, Galvez said the Department of Foreign Affairs should come out with an advisory discouraging overseas Filipinos in UK from returning to the Philippines anytime soon.

As for the Department of Transportation, Galvez urged the agency make sure that all passenger airlines coming into the country are observing more stringent border control measures.

He also suggested an "active surveillance" and "discreet investigation" by the military and the police on balikbayans who had arrived in the country from the UK even before news of the new variant broke out.

UK traveler, task force

During the same meeting, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Saturday announced that one of the 79 passengers that arrived in the Philippines from the UK have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), though it is not yet known whether or not the person was carrying the new variant.

Meanwhile, Duterte asked the Department of Health and the Department of Science and Technology to create a new task force that would focus on developments related to the new variant. 

Meanwhile, Duterte approved the extension for another two weeks of the travel ban for flights from UK in light of the new variant there. The ban is originally set to expire on December 31. —MDM/KG, GMA News