Malacañang said the two-day ‘health break’ declared by the Department of Education (DepEd) for public schools aims to help prevent the spread of influenza-like diseases in Metro Manila.
‘They (DepEd officials) decided to prevent it from spreading by having a health break in schools so that students would not be infected and this would allow the cleaning of the schools in two days so that when the children return, they can be sure that their classrooms will be safe and clean,’ Palace Press Office Claire Castro said in Filipino in a press briefing last Monday.
During the weekend, DepEd announced that fact-to-face classes in public schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) will be suspended from October 13 to 14.
The affected schools were required to implement Alternative Delivery Modalities during the two-day suspension to prevent any disruption on the education of their students.
DepEd made the decision after the Department of Health (DOH) said flu-like cases nationwide reached 121,716 from January to September-eight percent lower compared to the 132,538 cases in the same period last year.
DOH defines influenza-like illnesses as a condition with sudden onset of fever of more than or equal to 38 Celsius and cough or sore throat in the absence of other diagnoses.
Citing DOH, Castro said the uptick in flu-like diseases was expected as the weather becomes cooler with the upcoming Christmas season.
She allayed public concerns on the disease and said the government is implementing the necessary measures to minimize the risk of the flu-like diseases from infecting more people.