Excerpt
The main intention of lockdown, known in the Philippines as Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), is to reduce the reproductive rate of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to a point near virus elimination, as demonstrated in the lockdown in Wuhan, China, and in other relatively successful countries. Beyond the direct public health goal, strict lockdown measures towards total stamping out of the virus ultimately aspires to prevent public health and economic collapse, or prolonged societal devastation, which this pandemic is capable of causing.

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Dr. Noel Lee J. Miranda, DVM, MSc, is a regional expert in emerging pandemic threats at animal-human-environment interface, pandemic preparedness and response, and multisystem operations planning. He was among the first veterinary public health field responders on behalf of WHO during the outbreaks of avian influenza in Southeast Asia in 2004. He facilitated ASEAN’s pandemic planning in 2006-2013.  Formerly a Senior Scientific Officer at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in the Philippines. He currently supports COVID-19 pandemic response efforts as a member of expert peer groups contributing national and global policy recommendations and technical guidance.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the DKI APCSS or the United States Government.

Security Nexus is a peer-reviewed, online journal published by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.