Zarate: Over 1M COVID-19 cases show admin's negligence in fighting pandemic

Bayan Muna partylist Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate on Tuesday said the over one million COVID-19 infections recorded in the country only shows the Duterte administration's "gross negligence" in addressing the pandemic, with its inadequate and inefficient solutions.

"Mahigit isang taon na nating nilalabanan ang pandemya, mahigit isang milyong na din ang nagka-COVID, patuloy pa itong tumataas pero palpak pa din ang mga solusyon ng administrasyong Duterte," Zarate said in a press statement.

(More than a year of battling the pandemic and the cases have reached more than a million, the number of infections continue to rise and yet the solutions implemented by the Duterte administration remain ineffective.)

"Ito talaga ang mahirap dahil ang mga itinalaga na mamuno sa paglaban dito ay mainly mga dating militar at hindi mga medical and health experts. Mas masahol, parang pinagkikitaan pa ang pandemya dahil sa mga isyu ng 'kickVacs' sa procurement ng bakuna," he added.

(This is the problem because those tasked to lead the government's response against the pandemic were former military officials and not medical and health experts. Worse, there are also issues of corruption in the procurement of vaccines.)

Amid the increasing cases, the basic steps of mass testing and aggressive contact tracing is still not being observed, according to Zarate.

"We have already explained for the nth time that mass testing does not mean that all Filipinos would be COVID-tested; it only means that at least 120,000 COVID testing should be done per day in the whole country or at least concentrated testing in the NCR Plus bubble, which is the epicenter of the Philippine pandemic, and the other regions where infection are high," he said.

"Up till now contact tracers are still lacking and the ratio of contacts to be traced per positive case should be 1:37. This would ensure that less COVID positive cases would get through the net and be quarantined," he said.

In March, Malacañang admitted that the country's contact tracing efforts is its weakest link in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zarate also pointed out that the current vaccine roll out is still below the rate compared to what was previously announced by the government.

"It should also be fast tracked and officials should stop upending each other so that there would be no more delays," Zarate said.

GMA News Online has sought the comment of presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Zarate's remarks but the former has yet to reply.

On Monday, the Philippines' COVID-19 tally breached one million after the DOH recorded 8,929 new infections. The country now has a total of 1,006,428 COVID-19 cases.

Following this, the Department of Health has said it is doubling its efforts in addressing the health crisis.

"We're doubling our efforts," said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Unang Hirit Tuesday. "Whatever we have been doing in the past, we are intensifying."

Vergeire said these include improving localized response, expanding the country's health system, ramping up the testing capacity, and improving the isolation facilities.—AOL, GMA News