Palace downplays spike in virus cases
We are not alone. It’s not as if it’s just happening in the Philippines
Malacañang on Wednesday allayed concerns on the continuous surge of coronavirus cases in the Philippines, saying that other countries are also seeing a spike of new infections.
The government will tap the Philippine National Police in contact tracing in a bid to curb coronavirus transmission.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque downplayed the record-high 6,352 new cases recorded Tuesday which raised the total to 112,000.
The figure surpassed the previous high of 5,032 cases tallied last Sunday. It was the fifth time that the Philippines set a new highest single-day jump in the past week.
“We are not alone. It’s not as if it’s just happening in the Philippines,” Roque told
CNN Philippines in an interview.
He later cited a report from the Nikki
Asian Review which stated that about 70 percent of countries across the globe are reporting growing number of COVID-19 cases.
The report noted that Spain and Australia in particular are seeing notable increases of
COVID-19 patients, exceeding the previous peaks it had in the previous months.
The Palace official also said that it was only “understandable” that cases continue to increase because of the country’s increased testing capacity now at 32,000 tests per day.
He also floated the possibility that the surge of COVID-19 cases could be attributed to mutation as new research has been showing a specific change occurring in virus outbreaks in Europe and the United States.
Meanwhile, he said the government will tap the Philippine National Police in contact tracing in a bid to curb coronavirus transmission.
Following the model of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, every tracer will have to locate 30 to 37 close contacts of a COVID-19 patient, Roque said.