The government is eyeing to establish a task force on logistics which would focus on providing the needs of healthcare professionals amid the health crisis, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Policy Against Covid-19, said Tuesday.

In a virtual interview in Laging Handa public briefing, Galvez said the provision of healthcare necessities will be funded under the Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2).

“Iyon po ay pinag-usapan na rin po namin kahapon sa pamumuno po ni Secretary Vince Dizon na magkaroon po ng tinatawag na iyong ating Task Group on Logistics ay sila po ang titingin sa pangangailangan po na iyon, kasama po ang ating OCD [Office of the Civil Defense] (We also discussed that yesterday, under the leadership of Secretary Vince Dizon to have a so-called task group on logistics, which will monitor the needs, alongside OCD),” he said.

Under Bayanihan 2, Galvez said the government will provide free transportation and accommodation to healthcare professionals.

Improving pandemic response

On the other hand, Galvez said the government continues to put up more isolation facilities and boost the country’s testing capacity.

Galvez said there are 117 accredited testing laboratories nationwide, which can facilitate around 30,000 to 31,000 tests per day.

“Ibig sabihin po nakuha na po natin iyong talagang target natin (This means we already reached our targets) and it’s moving forward dahil marami pa po tayo na mga laboratory na nag-a-apply at nasa level 3, level 4 na po sila ng kanilang application (because we have more laboratories applying for accreditation which are now at level 3 and level 4 application stages),” he said.

In Metro Manila, the government can now facilitate around 15,000 tests per day, he added.

Meanwhile, Galvez said the positive result of the study of the UP OCTA research team citing the coronavirus curve in the country started to flatten, is an indication that there are improvements on the country’s crisis management and response.

This also indicates, he said, that the efforts of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF), the National Task Force (NTF), the local government units (LGUs) with the help of the private sector, have been productive.

However, Galvez reiterated that the public should still be vigilant despite the flattening of the curve.

“Pero iyon po, tinatawag nating optimism with caution, dapat i-caution pa rin natin na huwag tayong magkumpiyansa. Though mataas pa rin po kasi iyong kaso ng NCR at saka iyong ibang lugar, huwag po tayong magkumpiyansa (That is optimism with caution, we should be cautious and not be complacent, though we still have high cases in National Capital Region and those with other areas, so we should not be that confident),” he said. (PNA)