Gov’t agencies, LGUs told to adopt new Covid-19 classifications

Covid-19 response activities: the Department of Social Welfare and Development at PHP100 billion for its social amelioration program; and Department of Labor and Employment at PHP1.5 billion for displaced workers. Around PHP30.82 billion has been allotted to provide funding assistance to cities and municipalities under the “Bayanihan Grant to Cities and Municipalities” program. Meanwhile, Duterte said the Land Bank of the Philippines has remitted cash balances from various government agencies amounting to PHP63.6 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has donated PHP290 million to Covid-19 referral hospitals and approved the release of PHP447 million worth of financial assistance to 81 government hospitals, which shall be chargeable against its charity fund. Under the “Bayanihan to Heal as One” law, the executive department must submit a weekly report to Congress, every Monday, detailing how he used his special powers to address Covid-19. The report must include the amount and corresponding utilization of funds used, augmented, reprogrammed, reallocated, and realigned. (PNA) Gov’t agencies, LGUs told to adopt new Covid-19 classifications National News

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos

MANILA - The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has directed all government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to adopt the revised classification system for people being checked for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The directive was made after the IATF-EID agreed on Monday night to approve the recommendation of National Task Force on Covid-19, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4 on Tuesday. Nograles said the new set of guidelines for detecting Covid-19 should be included in state departments and LGUs’ subsequent documents APRIL 11-17, 2020 | 41

c o n t a i n i n g g o v e r n m e n t ’ s efforts to fight the new pathogen. National News

He added that existing documents issued by all government agencies and LGUs should also be updated.

“All agencies and Local G o v e r n m e n t Units (LGUs) are directed to apply said classification in all subsequent issuances related to Covid-19, as well as to update existing issuances in accordance therewith,” Nograles said.

Since January 28, the Philippines began classifying Covid-19 cases as either patients under investigation (PUIs) or persons under monitoring (PUMs).

The Department of Health (DOH), however, announced on Saturday that it modified the classification for Covid-19 cases. PUMs, or those who may have been exposed to Covid-19 but exhibit no symptoms, are no longer included in the new classification.

Adopting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) interim guidance on global surveillance for the new coronavirus, the DOH is now using the terms “suspect,” “probable,” and “confirmed” for Covid-19 cases. A PUI with mild, severe or critical symptoms who was not tested or awaiting test results is now branded as “suspect,” while a PUI with mild, severe or critical symptoms with inconclusive test results is referred to as a “probable” case.

A Covid-19 positive case, on the other hand, is now classified as “confirmed.”

Adoption of evaluation tool in assessing communities

Meantime, Nograles said the IATF-EID also approved the adoption of the Commission on Population’s (POPCOM) proposed evaluation tool for the assessment of the demographic vulnerabilities of communities to the Covid-19 health event.

He said LGUs, including those from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), should