(File photo)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said as part of the administration recalibrated plan to battle COVID-19  pandemic, the possible policy shift in imposing “localized lockdowns” nationwide.

In his televised address to the people, Duterte said instead of implementing city-wide and province-wide community quarantine to combat coronavirus disease, he directed the National Task Force Against Covid-19 to study the potential benefits of implementing localized lockdowns all throughout the country.

“Whether the rise in the number of cases is due to the Delta variant or not, we need to recalibrate our response,” “We are also evaluating whether granular or localized lockdown would work best in our current situation,” Duterte said

He gave the fresh directive following the country’s recorded high 22,366 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of coronavirus infections to 1,976,202.

Around 1,794,278 individuals have already recovered, while 33,330 people have died because of Covid-19.

There are still 148,594 active Covid-19 cases in the country.

Despite the surge in Covid-19 infections, Duterte remained thankful over the low Covid-19 fatality rate in the country.

“There’s a rise of Covid cases all over [the world]. Hirap ang Amerika ngayon, ang Europe is suffering from a… Maraming namatay. Turkey, maraming patay. Saudi Arabia, mas maraming patay. Itong atin, hawa lang. Ang patay natin, hindi masyadong ganoon karami. (America, Europe, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are struggling because of Covid-19-related deaths. In our case, many are catching the virus but there are only a few deaths),” Duterte said.

For now, Metro Manila and other areas in the country will remain under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the second strictest community quarantine status, until Sept. 7 to address the increasing bed occupancy and enable the local government units to ramp up their vaccination rollout, Duterte said.

Duterte also reminded Filipinos to continue heeding the government’s advice to wear face mask, observe regular handwashing, and follow strict social distancing to protect themselves against Covid-19.

“Let us continue to be safe from Covid and its variants by continuing to observe our minimum public health standards — mask, hugas, iwas (wear a mask, wash hands, and observe a distance). And please [get] vaccinated as soon as your turn comes and avoid being complacent about protocols,” he said.

Duterte likewise renewed his call on his fellow Filipinos to grab the opportunity to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

“Alam mo, sabi ko sa inyo, walang iba, ang panlaban natin sa Covid ay ang bakuna. Meron tayong problema ngayon, nag-mutate, may variants, nag-kaniyang sarili, nag-ibang anyo ang mga animal (You know, I am telling you, our only weapon against Covid is the vaccine. We also have a problem now because the virus is mutating, there are other variants already),” he said.

As of Aug. 30, around 33,099,392 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have already been administered nationwide, based on the presentation made by NTF Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.

Around 13,784,681 individuals have already been fully vaccinated, while some 19,317,711 individuals have already received the first dose.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in its Resolution 135-A approved on Aug. 26, has directed LGUs whose jurisdictions have a community transmission of Covid-19 to implement localized lockdowns.

Under the resolution, LGUs must implement localized community quarantine and step up the availability of quarantine facilities in “priority” or “critical” areas with community transmission.