Restore virus curbs, OCTA urges Philippines
MANILA: An independent research group urged the government to restore some of the restrictions imposed against the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the recent decision allowing children aged five years and above to leave their homes to prevent the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.
Ranjit Rye, an OCTA fellow, cited the urgent need for “an urgent and proactive response from the government” following confirmation over the presence of the Delta variant in the country despite implementation of strict border controls to prevent its entry.
“OCTA’S basic position,” Rye said, “is that the national government and local government units should implement timely and appropriate responses to the real threat of Delta.” He said these include increased testing, aggressive contact-tracing and improved treatment, in addition to vaccination.
OCTA, composed of experts from the stateowned University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas run by Dominican priests, does independent studies on the government’s campaign against the pandemic.
This developed as Benhur Abalos, the chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), disclosed that the mayors agreed to meet this week to decide on whether or not to recommend the suspension of the government decision allowing children five years old and above to venture outdoors like visiting parks.
Abalos told a TV interview the mayors of the 16 cities and one town that compose Metro Manila, officially known as the National Capital Region, agreed to meet with health experts following a health department report that two of the 11 patients found positive of the Delta variant came from the metropolis.
“Even if it is just one or two, if the threat is really real considering how transmissible the Delta variant is, we would have to hear the side of experts,” Abalos pointed out “If it is really needed, we have to do it. We might stop it (allowing the children outdoors).”
But Dr Tony Leachon, a former government public health adviser, lamented in his Twiter account that the Philippine pandemic response “is too slow and lacks vigilance and proactiveness.”
He added: “The arrival (of the Delta variant), lack of testing, tracings and slow vaccinations are solid examples of indecisive leadership.”
Leachon warned that if no decisive was taken, the same tragedy could befall the Philippines like that of Indonesia, which is also an archipelago and is now being besieged by the Delta variant.
On Friday, the health department confirmed that 11 local cases of the Delta variant had been discovered in Metro Manila, Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao.