DOH seeks control of COVID-19 transmissions to ease restrictions by Christmas season

The Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday that it was looking to control COVID-19 transmissions and ease restrictions by the upcoming Christmas season.

In a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that COVID-19 cases were expected to decrease by November 15 according to the projections made by the Health Department’s cluster team.

“If we will look at our daily cases we will be averaging about 1,100 cases by November 15, daily cases dito sa National Capital Region (NCR),” Vergeire said.

“Kung magtutuloy tuloy po yan at maipagpapatuloy po natin ang pag-control sa transmission ng sakit po na ito sana po ay tayo pong lahat ay nagho-hope by Christmas time magkakaroon po ng mas maluwag na classification and restriction sa ating mga kababayan,” she added.

(If this continues and we can continue to control the transmission of this disease, I hope, and we can all hope, that by Christmas time there will be an ease in classification and restrictions for our fellow countrymen.)

Asked if children would be allowed to go out during Christmas, Vergeire said that health experts and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) were currently discussing the matter.

“But looking at the case data right now tinitignan po natin at kung mauumpisahan na rin po natin ang pagbabakuna those with comorbidities sa mga kabataan kung atin pong itutuloy tuloy at magstabilize po ang ating supplies meron naman pong posibilidad,” the health undersecretary said.

(But looking at the case data right now, we are looking if we can also start vaccinating those with complications in the younger population. If we continue and stabilize our supplies, there is a possibility.)

Last September 29, the DOH announced that pediatric vaccinations would start among 12 to 17-year-olds with comorbidities as part of Priority Group A3.

“Expansion beyond this group will follow once adequate coverage of the A2 priority group or senior citizens has been achieved nationwide and vaccine supply becomes sufficient to include children,” it said.

The DOH reported 10,670 new COVID-19 infections on Friday as two laboratories failed to submit data on time. This brought the total to 2,643,494 cases in the country. — DVM, GMA News