COVID-19 patients may not get an option to isolate themselves at home soon, as the  Department of Health and the Department of the Interior and Local Government eye a strict implementation of the “no home quarantine” policy.

“Kasi mayroon naman tayong COVID hotels na kung saan pwede sila mag-isolate, very important kasi na talagang malabas sila sa bahay kasi nahahawa yung pamilya, no. That is for the good, for the sake of family members,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año explained in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Año clarified that this ban is still subject to the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and that there will be exemptions made for the elderly.

This announcement was made after chief implementer of the COVID-19 National Task Force Carlito Galvez Jr. said that home quarantines were a factor in the spread of COVID-19 in the country. As of writing, a total of 238,727 COVID-19 cases have been logged with 3,890 deaths and 184,906 recoveries.

Header photo by Inquirer Lifestyle

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