Duterte adviser pushes for barangay-based quarantines to save economy

MANILA -- The Philippines should shift to a barangay or village-based quarantine once the Luzon lockdown succeeds, an economic adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, stressing the need to restart the economy.

Marketing, construction and public transportation should resume with safeguards to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion.

Concepcion said he was at a recent meeting of Duterte's economic managers with business leaders to discuss a "post lockdown scenario."

"The goal really is while we have to be guarded against the virus, we have to start reviving the economy," he told ANC

"We might kill the virus but we might die because the economy is floundering. That's the biggest challenge we're facing right now," he said.

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The Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 should be "very clear" on the rules of the barangay-based quarantine, he said.

The Philippines as of Monday confirmed 78 deaths out of 1,546 confirmed cases of the disease. Forty-two patients recovered. The tally could spike with the arrival of additional test kits, said the health department.