NEWS | A year into lockdown: PH logs ever-rising COVID-19 cases amid gov’t claims of excellent response
By Alexandra Kate Ramirez
Analytics group OCTA Research on Friday, March 12, warned that the recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila was faster than its initial prediction. As the total number of reported COVID-19 cases in the country breached 627,000, the Department of Health (DOH) was intent on refraining from calling the situation a surge. Furthermore, President Rodrigo Duterte announced his plans of reopening the economy in a matter of weeks despite his admission of being in a quandary on the country’s vaccination program.
The recent upward trend
On March 13, the Philippines recorded 5,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time in over six months, the DOH’s case bulletin reported. As of press time, the highest daily figure ever logged was on August 10, which was 6,958 cases.
The DOH also revealed a positivity rate of 12.8% as of 12 nn of March 12, wherein out of 30,456 tests conducted, 3,900 yielded positive results. Based on the data, the country hasn’t had a 12% positivity rate since August as well.
Furthermore, the OCTA Research group warned that the Philippines might record over 6,500 COVID-19 cases per day by the end of March if the spread remains uncontrolled.
“It is important that the increase in new cases in the NCR be curbed in order to avoid a high number of new cases in NCR and to prevent overwhelming the hospital system of NCR and even the regions surrounding NCR (Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan),” it added.
Moreover, the DOH reported on March 13 the country’s first-ever case of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19 called P1, which is believed to be highly transmissible and can re-infect those who previously recovered from COVID-19. Experts noted that the variant has now been identified in at least 20 countries.
Duterte’s one-size-fits-all strategy
Amidst the increasing COVID-19 infections in the country, Duterte was hellbent on reopening the economy in a matter of weeks because he insisted that Filipinos cannot forever be under strict quarantine restrictions.
“I have to reopen the economy. I have given a timetable, just weeks… We cannot be forever under strict quarantine protocol because people are getting hungry. They have to work, to eat, to survive,” Duterte insisted on March 11 at the inauguration of the Port Operations Building in Dumaguete City.
The World Health Organization (WHO), meanwhile, recommended that before the governments can consider reopening the economy, the positivity rate should remain below 5% for at least two weeks.
Although determined to reopen the economy, Duterte conceded that he is in a quandary on what to do since the government has “yet to fully implement” the country’s COVID-19 immunization program. Since the government began its mass vaccination drive last March 1, the Philippines inoculated a total of 193,492 individuals against COVID-19 as of March 11.
Despite the Philippines having the record of the world’s longest lockdown, the Duterte administration stated that it was stellar in handling the public health crisis.
“We were excellent. We controlled the spread of the disease, especially when compared to richer countries with more modern hospitals,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque exclaimed during a press briefing on March 8.
It should be noted, however, that the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted deep, lasting scars, as the country’s death toll nears 13,000 as of March 14, while four million Filipinos remain unemployed amidst the worsening health and economic crises in the country.
DOH still in denial
A year after the lockdown took place, the DOH stated that the Philippines is more prepared in managing the public health crisis despite the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases.
While it acknowledged the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, the department advised against referring to the current situation as a ‘surge’.
“Let’s not use the word ‘surge.’ People panic when they hear that. Cases of people going to the hospital [emergency rooms] are increasing, but we need scientific evidence to say there is really a surge,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on March 8 during a regular news briefing.
Subsequently, Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative to the Philippines, asserted that the current rise in COVID-19 cases could not be considered a second wave of infections since the Philippine government never really managed to flatten the curve in the first place.
On March 12, when the country logged its highest number of COVID-19 cases this year, Vergeire maintained that hospital bed capacities in both public and private facilities were still at a manageable level, stressing that the allocation of beds has improved as the One Hospital Command system was implemented by the government.
Amidst DOH’s complacency, medical authorities argued that the upward trend of COVID-19 infections in Metro Manila is driving the capacities of major hospitals in the region towards collapse.
“If we don’t do anything about it, most probably it will follow the trend, maybe in the next 3–4 weeks, if this is not abated, then we will be reaching the full capacity in the next 4 weeks,” Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) president Dr. Jose Rene De Grano lamented.
Burdensome policies
In an attempt to curb the fresh surge of COVID-19 cases, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos Jr. announced that Metro Manila mayors agreed to reintroduce curfew hours for two weeks, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., starting on March 15.
The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) consequently said in a statement that the imposition of uniform curfew hours would be a burden to the entire working-class population of Metro Manila.
“By restricting public transportation on said hours, we are reminded of medical workers and essential frontliners, who had to walk before and after their grueling shifts, and of the abuses to motorcycle riders at police checkpoints during last year’s Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ),” the BMP remarked.
Moreover, Senator Nancy Binay also slammed the “ningas-kugon” strategy of the Duterte administration in battling the COVID-19 crisis, noting that curfews and ordinances would be utterly ineffective if government officials themselves are violating the same health protocols.
“No matter how long we impose curfews, or even considering enacting ordinances as an institutional response to abate the surge of COVID cases, lahat ‘yan ‘di magiging effective (all of that will become ineffective) if we continue to display a relaxed atmosphere in the midst of a worsening public health crisis,” said Senator Binay in a statement.
