Pangilinan, Villanueva alarmed over recent surge of COVID-19 cases in Philippines

Two senators on Tuesday expressed alarm over the increase in COVID-19 cases recorded in the Philippines in previous days.

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan said the government must beef up its approach to control the further spread of the virus.

"Hanggang ngayon, halos apat na buwan na simula ng unang quarantine period noong Marso, wala pa ring komprehensibong plano para mapababa ang bilang ng mga kaso ng COVID. In fact, tumataas pa at pinakamataas nitong nakaraang dalawang araw,” he said in a statement.

An opposition senator, Pangilinan said the administration should shift its focus from stalling the grant of ABS-CBN franchise and pushing for the anti-terror law to crafting a health-centric approach that would effectively address the impact of the pandemic.

“Sa totoo lang, hindi ABS-CBN o Anti-Terror Law ang dapat pinagkaka-abalahan ng gobyerno ngayon. The pandemic and the resulting disruption in the economy and joblessness should be its only job now," he said.

Improving the COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, as well as achieving timely generation of data should be the goal of the government in order to come up with effective policies against the spread of the virus, according to the lawmaker.

Senator Joel Villanueva, who chairs the Senate committee on labor, said the lack of "active epidemiological surveillance" contributed to the surge of COVID-19 cases in previous days.

He stressed that the upward trend on the number of infected in the Philippines would spell disaster for efforts in resuscitating the bogged down economy.

"Business confidence is tied with trust in the health sector management. Industries and productive economic sectors won’t risk resuming operations if there is a strong possibility of another lockdown, which would be disastrous for our economy, and consequently for our workers as well," Villanueva said.

"Kulang na po ang ginagawang pag-report ng mga numero araw-araw at ang pagsita sa mga pasaway. Dapat inaalam na po kung saan ang mga hotspot, at magsagawa ng sapat na random testing upang malaman kung gaano kalawak ng pagkalat ng sakit," he added.

Citing a World Bank study, the senator said DOH's reliance on reports submitted by hospitals, clinics, public health units can be considered "passive surveillance."

He said that while this is an inexpensive strategy, discrepancies and delays can hound the process. Villanueva suggested hiring more people for active monitoring of transmissions in communities.

"Our government should take a good hard look at its current strategy. The rising number of cases, especially in the past three days should already be a red flag," he added.

As of July 7, the total COVID-19 cases in the Philippines reached the 47,000 mark.

On July 5, a record-high 2,434 fresh and late cases were added to the list. The following day, 2,099 more infections were logged.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the recent increase in COVID-19 cases was due to clustering of cases and community transmission, and not attributed to improved testing capacity alone.

UP experts project that COVID-19 cases in the country may reach 100,000 by the end of August. —LDF, GMA News