Govt. prepares for new normal as Covid cases go down

THE NATIONAL Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 said it will present to President Duterte next a “new normal roadmap,” which will aid the country exit the pandemic.

“The National Task Force and the experts of the Department of Health are currently working very hard to develop a new normal roadmap and we are confident that this will be ready to be presented to you, Mr. President, by the beginning of March and this will really signal our move towards some semblance of normalcy after this very difficult two-year where we have dealt with the pandemic,” said Presidential adviser on Covid-19 response Vivencio Dizon said at a televised meeting.

He said the new normal roadmap is expected to signal the return to a robust and healthy growth of the economy that will bring back jobs, investments, and normalize the operation of many industries, as well as the tourism sector.

Dizon expressed optimism that if all goes well, the country could start the new normal to prepare it to finally close the book on Covid-19. “Hopefully po, barring any other new variants that may come our way,” he said.

At the same time, Dizon said the country’s vaccination rate is very critical as it enters the so-called new normal. He also reported that the government pediatric vaccination rollout was a success especially for those aged 5 to 11 years.

“We are already nearing almost the 12 million mark of our target. Nasa 9 million na po tayo for 12 to 17, and there are roughly about 15 million children aged 5 to 11, which we need to vaccinate as soon as possible para po makapasok na sila sa eskuwela at makalabas na po sila after two years of staying at home,” he said.

Overall, the government’s priority is to focus on immunizing Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Soccsksargen, Caraga Region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, according to Dizon, saying the government targets to provide complete doses of Covid-19 vaccine to at least 90 million Filipinos by the end Duterte’s term in June. (Mark Navales and Malou Cablinda contributed to this report.)