IATF names new heads of Covid-19 regional task groups

THE INTERr-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has named the new heads of regional inter-agency task groups nationwide that will help the government in containing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).   

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Tuesday said the chairman of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have been designated as heads of the regional inter-agency task groups in their respective regions.

Nograles added that regional offices of the Office of Civil Defense have been tapped as chair of the regional inter-agency task groups for all other regions.

“The following recommendations of the National Task Force (NTF) Covid-19, as revised and presented, are hereby approved,” Nograles said in a virtual press conference aired on state-run PTV-4.

The IATF-EID, through Resolution 12 signed March 13, created the regional inter-agency task groups all throughout the country to boost the government’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Apart from the regional inter-agency task groups, the IATF-EID has also formed the NTF on Covid-19, which serves as the operation command and is composed of task groups on response operations, resource management, and strategic communications.

The IATF-EID has also created technical working group and sub-technical workings groups tasked to recommend programs and strategies aimed at addressing Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Nograles said public cooperation was needed to ensure the successful fight against Covid-19.

“Our lives are literally in each other’s hands. Kailangan natin ang kooperasyon at tulong ng lahat upang malampasan natin ang krisis na ito (We need everyone’s cooperation and help to overcome this crisis),” he said.

The Philippines now has 5,223 Covid-19 confirmed cases, with 335 deaths and 295 recoveries, the Department of Health announced on Tuesday.

The entire Luzon and some parts of Visayas and Mindanao have been placed under an enhanced community quarantine to arrest the spread of Covid-19. (By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos)