Philippines 'progressing at very fast rate' vs. COVID-19, says Duterte

The Philippines is “progressing at a very fast rate” in its fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) thanks to uniformed personnel who enforce the law, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed on Thursday.

“They are called upon to assist the government. ‘Yan lang ang trabaho nila at makita ninyo, we are progressing at a very fast rate because we were able to put in place the rules to be followed when COVID came in like a storm from the outside,” Duterte said.

The Philippines has recorded 3,598 recoveries with 921 deaths from COVID-19 as of Thursday afternoon.

"So you would see that the Philippines has a ratio and proportion vis-a-vis with the population, we have a low rate of mortality here in this country… All in all, para sa akin, hindi naman masama ito," Duterte said.

The Department of Health hours earlier on Thursday reported 539 new infections, the highest number of new cases in a single day since COVID-19 first broke out in the country in January. 

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said 90 percent of infections are mild cases, 7.3 percent are asymptomatic, while less than 2 percent are in severe to critical condition.

“Ibig ko rin pong bigyang diin na sa kasalukuyan po health systems capacity ay sapat,” he added.

The DOH also reported that the Philippines’ case doubling time has slowed to seven days from the two to three days recorded in January. 

Meanwhile, the country’s 43 testing centers are still way off the target of conducting 30,000 tests daily by May 30, with only 8,496 samples processed on May 27 due to a lack of laboratory supplies and staff.

Duterteallayed fears that there was a de-facto martial law prevailing in the country due to the heightened presence of soldiers and policemen.

“There is no martial law in the Philippines. Far from it. We are exercising the power of the state to protect public health. That is all there is to it. ‘Wag kayong matakot, there will be no arrests, detention or anything,” he said.

Shortly before Duterte made the comment, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año reported that police have tallied 184,467 quarantine violators.

Of this number, 54 percent were arrested, 37 percent were fined, while 9 percent were let off with a warning.

The United Nations earlier chided the Philippines’ “highly militarized” response to quarantine violators, reminding authorities that “emergency powers should not be a weapon… to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power.” -NB, GMA News