Situation greatly improved but prepare for Omicron, says Galvez

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday cautioned the public to be vigilant against the Omicron COVID-19 threat even as the current situation in the country has greatly improved.

“Do not underestimate Omicron. We have to revisit the national government and LGU (local government unit) playbook, nakita po natin na-defeat natin yung Delta kailangan tignan natin kung ano yung nagawa nating maganda para at least mapaghandaan natin yung Omicron,” Galvez said his report to President Rodrigo Duterte during Monday's Talk to the People.

(Do not underestimate Omicron. We have to revisit the national government and local government units playbook. We saw that we defeated Delta variant, we need to see what we have done well so that at least we can prepare for Omicron variant.)

“We must prepare for Omicron, it is a matter of time na talagang darating po ang Omicron sa ating bansa,” he said.

Galvez also congratulated the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and its one-stop-shop for instituting stringent border controls.

“We will mobilize and reconstitute to reserve frontliners and support system kasi napakabilis po talaga ng Omicron in terms of transmission (because Omicron is really fast in terms of transmission),” he said.

The vaccine czar assured that COVID-19 testing, tracing, isolation and vaccination against the viral disease will be ramped up anew.

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier reported one more case of the Omicron variant, bringing the total in the country to three.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the latest case is a 36-year-old returning overseas Filipino (ROF) who arrived from Qatar on November 28 via Qatar Airways Flight number QR 924.

The Philippines last week detected its first two cases of the Omicron variant.

At present, Vergeire said 98 countries have detected the variant, 40 of which have confirmed or suspected local transmission.—LDF, GMA News