THE Department of Trade and Industry said Monday it was “confident” in allowing several businesses to operate at full capacity as the economy continued to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency earlier allowed “labor-intensive” services to operate at 100 percent capacity while restaurants’ dine-in services may resume from 50 percent of its capacity, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
Lopez cited the country’s improving critical utilization care and its low COVID-19 mortality rate.
“Ibig sabihin talaga po name-maintain naman natin ‘yung disiplina sa pagkontrol at pagsunod sa minimum health standards. Kaya naman tayo ay confident sa gradual reopening na hindi po lalala ang sitwasyon,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
“Hindi ho talaga mako-compromise ‘yan. Kaya po tayo tumuloy sa pagbubukas dahil malinaw po na susundin ang minimum health standards.”
Should a spike in virus cases occur, localized or granular lockdowns will be imposed and intensive contact tracing efforts will be done, Lopez said.
“Doble, tripleng ingat pero ‘di naman kailangan nakakulong dahil ang ekonomiya malaki na ang binagsak, maraming nagugutom, maraming may ibang sakit, ayon po ‘yun sa pag-aaral ng NEDA. Base sa statistics mas malaki pa ang namamatay na hindi COVID-related,” he said.
The agency also continues to encourage work from home setups, Lopez said.
“Ang ibang improvement na pinapagawa natin, pinapa-stagger natin, kinakalat ang office hours para hindi magsabay-sabay ang transportation at ‘di magkahawahan,” he said.(ABS-CBN News)
