The government is preparing to "finally close the book of COVID-19" in the country, an official said on Monday night.

During the Talk To The People with President Rodrigo Duterte, National Task Force Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer and Government Response Secretary Vince Dizon expressed confidence the new normal road map being developed by the Department of Health (DOH) will be presented to the president next month.

"The DOH are currently working very hard to develop a new normal road map and we are confident that this will be ready to be presented to you Mr. President by the beginning of March and this will really signal our move towards some semblance of normalcy," he said.

"After this very difficult two year where we have dealt with the pandemic and this will really signal the return hopefully to a robust and very healthy growth in our economy that will bring back jobs, investments and return to normalcy of our industries such as tourism that was hardly hit by COVID-19, " he added.

Dizon is also hopeful if the situation goes well, the new normal will start in March.

"Hopefully this coming March if all goes well, we will start here in the new normal to prepare the country to finally close the book of COVID-19 hopefully barring any other new variants that would come our way," he said. Robina Asido/DMS