High-level meeting eyes Delta response
Due to the threat of the Delta variant cases, I am calling for the government to take immediate actions to intensify existing health and safety protocols
President Rodrigo Duterte has called for an emergency meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, economic managers and health experts to study the country’s planned stricter border control and other measures to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
“Due to the threat of the Delta variant cases, I am calling for the government to take immediate actions to intensify existing health and safety protocols,” Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, said.
The tighter border controls are in response to the Department of Health’s recent confirmation that there is already local transmission of the more contagious variant in the country.
“Department of Health (DoH) confirmed local transmission of the Delta variant in the country. I have stressed the need to be vigilant since local transmission has a huge possibility,” Go noted.
As the government continues to balance health and economic goals, Go warned Filipinos to be cautious of the virus. He also emphasized that the government’s top objective is to save lives.
To prevent the spread of the disease throughout the country, the government indicated that Thailand and Malaysia will now be included in the travel ban. It has already restricted visitors from Indonesia and most parts of South Asia and the Middle East.
Border controls may be reimposed
If the coronavirus spreads as quickly as it has in the previous months, Duterte floated the possibility of closing the borders. The country, according to the President, can no longer afford another wave of Covid-19 cases. The DoH has reported that hospital occupancy rates in the National Capital Region is rising.
Go talked to Duterte about beefing up border patrols not just at major airports and seaports, but at other entry points into the country, including the backdoor border in Mindanao.
According to Go, the country’s health protocols, which include testing, contact tracing, and isolation, among other components, must be tightened.
Med facilities made faster
To address the number of daily new Covid-19 cases in the country, particularly in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, concerned agencies are speeding up the establishment of medical facilities equipped with Covid-19 isolation facilities and critical care unit beds, added the Senator.
I have stressed the need to be vigilant since local transmission has a huge possibility.
Go also reiterated that the government must speed up the country’s national vaccination program. “We should speed up the vaccine rollout so that more Filipinos will be protected through inoculation,” Go said.
Go renewed his call to his fellow Filipinos to get their vaccines, particularly those included in the priority list of the national vaccination program.
The effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccinations in preventing severe cases of the disease, hospitalization, and death has been demonstrated. It was determined that 96 percent of recent deaths in Baguio City were people who had not been inoculated, according to the city’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
Go urged Filipinos to be more vigilant about Covid-19, citing the threat posed by the virus’s supposedly extremely contagious variant. He also reminded everyone to follow the appropriate health measures in a coordinated attempt to stop it from spreading further.