VIRUS CASES SPIKE IN PHILIPPINES
Health secretary blames quarantine fatigue, urges local govts to step up containment efforts
THE spike in Covid-19 cases is alarming and can be attributed to “quarantine fatigue” and inconsistency in maintaining minimum public health standards, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
According to the Philstar.com portal, he called on local government units to step up efforts to contain the spread.
“And to a certain degree, but not absolutely determined as of yet, the possibility of the variants contributed to the surge (together with) the loosening up of many quarantine restrictions and opening of a large part (of the economy).”
On Sunday, the Health Department reported the biggest singleday jump in new Covid-19 cases in seven months at 5,404 cases, bringing the total to 626,893.
The OCTA Research Group had projected that the country could record 8,000 new cases a day by the end of the month.
“They have to strengthen all interventions that they have done quite successfully in controlling the pandemic in the early part of
or middle of 2020,” Duque said to local government units.
Malacañang attributed the rise in cases to more transmissible Covid-19 variants.
“I think the confirmation that the new variants are in the Philippines and that these new variants are more infectious is one of the reasons behind the surge, not because the government is incompetent,” said presidential
spokesman Harry Roque.
“I don’t think anyone should be blamed, but it’s the nature of viruses to mutate. Let’s just be thankful that it has mutated in a way that is more infectious but not more fatal.”
Interior and Local Government Department spokesman Jonathan Malaya said contact tracing efforts have not been efficient despite there being more than 200,000
contact tracers nationwide.
“This is a cause for concern because we have additional contact tracers,” he said, referring to the 15,000 additional contact tracers for Metro Manila.
As community quarantine nears its first anniversary, senators attributed the poor enforcement of health protocols to violations by government officials and mixed messages sent to the public.