Duque admits Philippines didn't expect steep spike COVID-19 cases

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday admitted that the Philippine government didn't expect COVID-19 cases to increase the way they have been doing over the past several days after some restrictions were eased to kickstart the economy.

According to Mariz Umali's report on "Saksi", Duque said the country needed to make adjustments after the restrictions were eased and the number of cases increased steeply. 

"Hindi naman natin alam na papalo ng ganito kataas. So we have to make the adjustments," Duque said.

"Mas maraming nagkakahawaan. Ngayon na tumaas. O, para muna tayo. Ganu'n talaga, e. We have to bounce. Parang cha-cha-cha ka e. 'Di ba, 'di ba? One step back, two steps forward," he added.

The independent think tank OCTA Research has warned that new COVID-19 cases could reach 20,000 in a day in April after the uptick in the number of new infections reported daily over the past few weeks. 

Malacanang on Friday announced that the government was cutting the operational capability in offices and state corporations to 30% to 50% from March 22 to April 4 in a bid to stem the increase in COVID-19 cases.

Metro Manila, the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, has also started to implement a curfew that runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. It started on March 15 and will last until the end of the month.

Some provinces have also followed suit.

The Department of Trade Industry has also issued a circular temporarily shutting down recently resumed business activity and re-imposing capacity restrictions on others such as restaurants and personal care services.

The Philippines on Friday logged 7,103 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, the highest increase reported in a single day since the pandemic began, bringing the total to 648,066 even as five laboratories failed to submit data on time.

The previous highest record was at 6,958 on August 10, 2020.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), this brought the total active cases in the country to 73,264 cases, the highest this year.

Of this, 93.9 percent are mild, 3.3 percent are asymptomatic, 1.1 percent are severe, and 1 percent are in critical condition.

The DOH also announced that 390 more patients have recovered from the illness, bringing the total to 561,902, while the death toll rose to 12,900 with 13 new fatalities. -NB, GMA News