Philippines claims improved preparedness vs. COVID-19 a year after lockdown announced

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said the country was now better prepared to address the COVID-19 pandemic exactly a year since President Rodrigo Duterte announced the implementation of a community quarantine against COVID-19.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country was better prepared nowadays than it was last year in battling COVID-19.

“Sa tingin namin we have improved so much. Alam niyo noong July at August na tumataas ‘yung mga kaso, nagkakagulo po ang mga ospital natin. Parang hindi pa po tayo ganoon kasanay para mag-handle ng ganitong mga pagtaas bigla ng kaso,” Vergeire said in a briefing.

[We think we have improved so much. You know, when cases were rising in July and August, our hospitals were in a frenzy. We weren’t very experienced in handling surges.]

President Rodrigo Duterte on March 12, 2020 announced work and class suspensions as well as travel restrictions, as part of a "community quarantine" in Metro Manila.

Addressing the nation from Malacañang, Duterte said government work would be suspended and skeletal workforce will be implemented.

Three days later, Duterte extended the community quarantine to the rest of Luzon.

Health workers are well-versed in handling COVID-19 cases and have a wide array of options on how to manage patients, Vergeire said.

“We have maintained the case fatality rate to just 2% or a little above 2% pero hindi naman tumataas nang husto [but it has never gone up significantly],” Vergeire said.

Vergeire said the country had increased the number of beds for COVID-19 patients in hospitals and isolation facilities, as well as the number of testing laboratories.

“Looking at all of this, we can say that we have prepared our health system. Although hindi naman natin sinasabing perpekto na pero [we are not saying that it’s already perfect but] looking at that, after one year, I think we are now more prepared to handle and manage cases of COVID-19," Vergeire said.

‘Back to square one’

Despite the headway made against COVID-19, the Philippines reported 4,578 new cases on Friday afternoon, the highest single day tally since September last year

The DOH blamed the fresh spike on relaxed adherence to health protocols but an epidemiologist said the new coronavirus variants recently detected in the country were also a factor.

Senator Joel Villanueva said the country is seemingly “back to square one.”

“Ang problema po natin ngayon parang aaksyon lang tayo pagka kalat na 'yung virus. ‘Pag napupuno na lahat ng ospital natin, 'yung capacity, I think we need to be ahead of the curve,” Villanueva said.

[Our problem now is that we only act once the virus has spread, once hospitals are at full capacity. I think we need to be ahead of the curve.]

Metro Manila mayors have agreed to impose a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew starting Monday, March 15, in a bid to combat the spike in cases.

The government is also mulling the deployment of more soldiers and cops to enforce health protocols.

Senator Risa Hontiveros warned, however, that the “militaristic” approach to the pandemic could spell “a repeat of mistakes of the past.”

Meanwhile, the Philippines has vaccinated 114,615 individuals since it launched its vaccination campaign on March 1, becoming the last country in Southeast Asia to officially begin inoculations. -NB, GMA News