Spike blamed on public disregard for protocols

HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd is pinning the blame for the new spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country to the waning enforcement of safeguards against infection as efforts to revive the economy are ramped up.

In a phone interview on Monday, Duque told The Manila Times that the spike in Covid cases could not be blamed solely on the emergence of new variants of the virus.

He said based on genome sequencing, there were not enough cases of United Kingdom and South African variants to drive up the Covid caseload.

Other factors could be the easing of quarantine restrictions and lapses in enforcing minimum public health standards, he added.

On Monday the Department of Health recorded the fourth straight day that Covid cases had surpassed the 3,000 mark.

The 3,356 new cases raised the total to 597,763 cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire shared Duque’s view that the variants alone could not have triggered the latest Covid spike, particularly in Metro Manila.

“The underlying cause of why cases are increasing is the noncompliance to the health protocols that we have, as long as our public would not be able to comply with the minimum health protocols that are there,” she told A PRESS BRIEfiNG.

In its March 7 report, the academe-based group, OCTA Research, projected that the country could have at least 5,000 to 6,000 cases a day by the end of March.

OCTA said the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) could have 2,000 cases by March 21 and 3,000 cases by March 31.

While the Health department accepts the projections of OCTA

Research and other Covid-tracking groups, Vergeire said such estimates must be contextualized to determine if they were variant-driven.

She stressed there was still NO CONfiRMED COMMUNITY TRANSmission of the UK (B117) and South African (B1351) variants in the country.

The department met with the hospital directors during the weekend to brief them on the uptick of Covid cases.

Several hospitals in Metro Manila, including the Philippine General Hospital, has reported an increase in Covid admissions, but maintained that the number was still manageable.