COVID-19 NEWS

IATF approves DOH recommendation to expand CODE By Jelly Musico

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) to operationalize the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE), Malacañang said on Tuesday.

In a virtual Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the task force approved the DOH’s recommendation on Sept. 28 as part of the implementation of the minimum health standard to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). He said the DOH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have been directed to issue joint guidelines to extend the implementation of CODE in all local government units (LGUs). On the other hand, he said the Department of Trade and Industry and 54

Department of Labor and Employment, in coordination with DOH and the DILG, have been tasked to localize CODE in different workplaces and labor sectors. He said it can be done through “institutionalization” of CODE plans.

CODE is patient- and communityfocused where DOH assists the LGUs through community engagement activities to promote preventive behaviors, active case finding via house-to-house symptom checks, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing for symptomatic individuals, and an Oplan Kalinga application when either quarantine or isolation is needed, according to DOH.