CDC: No uniform guidelines yet on lifting COVID-19 lockdowns

The Philippines is not the only country faced with the difficult question on whether or not to extend the strict quarantine protocols it imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday.

"Nobody knows completely how to do that yet and lots of countries are trying to figure that out... It's a difficult question that everybody is grappling with now and we wouldn't have specific recommendations for precisely what to do in the Philippines," Dr. Barbara Marston, CDC COVID-19 International Task Force Lead, said in a telephonic briefing.

She, nonetheless, said that among the factors that must be considered are the decline in the number of cases and the capacity of the health system to accommodate more patients if a surge occurs.

Marston said various interventions have to be done simultaneously such as testing more individuals and isolating people that are sick, implementing social distancing, and frequent handwashing.

"What you wanna do is slow things down and then use this time that you gained to prepare — to prepare the health system, to train health care workers, to help communities understand what disease is and what's going on," she said.

"If we're lucky we can slow things down long enough until we get a vaccine or a treatment but we don't have those right now."

Flexibility is also key as the COVID-19 situation remains fluid globally, Marston said.

"Whatever's done is gonna have to be done carefully. I think people have to be ready to possibly change their mind to make a decision [about] what would happen and be ready to change that decision," she said.

As of April 14, the Philippines recorded a total of 5,223 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 335 deaths and 295 recoveries. A total of 38,103 individuals have been tested nationwide, based on DOH's online tracker.

The entire Luzon region and other affected areas in the country have been placed under an enhanced community quarantine until April 30 to limit the population's movement and prevent the transmission of the virus.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he would lift the stringent confinement protocols once the "antibody medicine" for COVID-19 — which he claimed is being developed by a major pharmaceutical company — becomes available in the market.

"Kung meron na 'yan tapos makita ko na ginagamit na ng tao, ili-lift ko [ang quarantine]. Tutal kung magkasakit kayo may antibodies naman tayo mabili," Duterte had said. --KBK, GMA News