ECQ IMPACT WORSE THAN EXPECTED

Expanded testing aimed at avoiding return to strict lockdowns —NEDA

The government’s move to ramp up its COVID-19 testing capacity is seen to ensure that the country will not regress to strictest lockdown measure or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the National Economic and Development Authority said Friday.

“Let me give some broad strokes. First of all, from testing just a few hundred, we’ve reached a peak of 22,000 tests per day and we are on-track to achieving 32,000 tests per day which will help bring down the positivity rate to below 5%,” Socioeconomic Planning Acting Secretary and NEDA chief Karl Kendrick Chua said in a virtual press briefing.

“This trajectory, we think, will not bring us back to the ECQ,” Chua said.

Latest available data on the Department of Health’s COVID-19 tracker as of July 8 showed there are 846,420 individuals tested for COVID-19 with positivity rate —or the percentage of those who tested positive out of the number of tests conducted— at 7.6%.

The Philippines has so far logged 51,754 cases —37,492 active, 12,944 recovered and 1,318 deaths.

Chua said the NEDA has recommended to ramp up testing, which will not only be for the sick, suspected to be sick, the overseas Filipino workers, and those in contact and healthcare workers.

“We actually want to increase testing towards the 10 million mark to include the testing of workers,” he said.

Last week, Malacañang announced that even people who do not exhibit COVID-19 symptoms would be included in the government's expanded testing program. 

The country’s chief state economy planner said ramping up testing will also give confidence to the public that “they are looked after,” boosting consumer and business confidence, therefore, helping the economy to gradually recover from the strict lockdown imposed mid-March until mid-May.

“Right now, as we transition to modified GCQ, we are seeing at least 75% of the economy reopen. In this regard, we are moving forward with the testing to include workers and to open up as many public transports as we can in the most safe [way],” Chua said.

In the first quarter of 2020, the Philippine economy contracted 0.2% —the weakest pace in at least two decades, dragged by the the eruption of the Taal volcano in January, the decline in tourism and trade due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in February, and the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March.

ECQ impact worse than expected

The economic team is projecting that the economy will contract further by 3.4% for the entire 2020.

Chua earlier hinted that the Philippine economy is likely to contract further in the second quarter of the year given the extension of ECQ.

“But, what we are seeing from the latest data in April and in May is that the impact of the ECQ was more severe than expected,” the NEDA chief said.

“The average growth for the entire year is expected -3.4% and this is being reviewed as we see more data... The second quarter will be worse than the first quarter,” he added.

The chief economist said the economy might be more negative in the second quarter and slightly improving in the next two quarters

Metro Manila, along with several "high-risk" areas, had been on ECQ from March 17 to May 15.  —LBG, GMA News