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Palace: Gov't didn't lack foresight in detecting Delta variant
By LLANESCA T. PANTI,GMA NewsMalacañang on Monday insisted that the government did not lack preparation for the Delta coronavirus variant despite the lack of funding for the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), which detects the variants.
“I disagree that there was lack of foresight because we have vigorous testing. We know who is infected, regardless of the variant. Pareho ang protocol na isolation, contact tracing and treatment [The protocol for all variants are the same],” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
The UP-National Institute of Health has said that it needs P100 million
to enable the PGC’s satellite offices in Visayas and Mindanao to do genome sequencing so it can process more samples per week and ultimately speed up detection of Delta variant.The Department of Health has said that the Delta variant can infect as many as five to eight people in one setting.
Roque admitted that support for PGC needs to be shored up, but insisted that increased genome sequencing is not mandatory in battling the more infectious Delta variant.
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“I concede, talagang papalakasin pa natin ang ating kakayahan nang malaman natin kung anong variant iyan, ‘no? Pero hindi naman ibig sabihin na dapat 100% tini-test para malaman natin kung anong variant. Mayroon din naman talagang statistics na tinatawag,” he said.
(We need to strengthen genome sequencing to detect variants, but we do not test every sample. We go by statistics.)
Roque said the government will make sure that PGC’s planned satellite offices in the Visayas and Mindanao will be funded.
“Well, if I’m not mistaken po, ‘no, that should be in the 2022 national budget. But if it is not, gagawan po natin ng paraan dahil sisimulan pa naman po ang talakayan ng parehong Kapulungan ng Kongreso ang ating pangtaunang budget for 2022,” he added.
(It should be in the 2022 budget but if I am wrong, we will look for funding source.) —KBK, GMA News