Lax adherence to safety protocols contributed to spike in COVID-19 cases — DOH

Lapses in compliance with safety protocols contributed to the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday, amid claims the rise in infections is being driven by coronavirus variants.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters there is no evidence yet of community transmission of the United Kingdom and South Africa variants in the Philippines.

“Whatever increase in the number of cases that we are having right now cannot be attributed solely to the variants. Kailangan alam po ng ating mga kababayan ‘yan. The underlying cause why cases are increasing [is] the non-compliance to the health protocols that we have,” Vergeire said in an online briefing.

“As long as our public would not be able to comply with the minimum health protocols that are there, nandiyan talaga yung posibilidad na dadami at dadami ang kaso. At ngayon dumating yung variants, it has aggravated this increase in the cases,” she added.

UK, South Africa variants

Vergeire said an epidemiological investigation is currently being undertaken in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) with regard to the new variants.

The country has so far recorded 58 South Africa variant cases, 118 UK variant cases and 85 mutations of concern.

Experts from the OCTA Research group earlier said the presence of the coronavirus variants might have caused the spike in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila.

“Let us not use the word ‘surge’ dahil natatakot ang mga tao kapag naririnig nila iyan. Tumataas ang bilang ng mga nagpapatingin, tumataas ang [bilang ng] mga tao na pumupunta sa emergency room pero kailangan natin ng scientific evidence that there really is a ‘surge,’” Vergeire said.

Still, the DOH urged the local government units to intensify measures to curb the spread of the disease.

“Visibility would be very important at this point because the public should know na binabantayan sila para alagaan ng kanilang local governments,” Vergeire said.

She said a return to stricter community quarantine is not being considered at this time.

“For now, we are not contemplating on having this region-wide ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) as what we had before,” Vergeire told CNN Philippines on Monday.

“If you may observe and what experts have been telling us, this is not the only measure that we can implement for us to prevent transmission,” she added.

COVID-19 stats

The number of COVID-19 cases has been going up at a faster rate lately, and for the past three days, more than 3,000 new cases have been reported.

The Philippines’ tally of COVID-19 cases leapt to 594,412 on Sunday after the DOH reported 3,276 new infections. The death toll climbed to 12,516 with 51 new fatalities. 

But the spokesperson of the Philippine General Hospital said there is no need yet for a time out for medical frontliners even if the number of COVID-19 admissions has been rising.

“Hindi pa naman kasi medyo bago pa lang ito na bumugso ang admissions. Pero siyempre, depende sa trend. We are hoping na hindi tayo bumalik sa dati,” PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said in an interview on GMA's Unang Hirit earlier in the day. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News