Philippines must flatten COVID-19 curve or risk 'superspreader' election — expert

The Philippines must bring down COVID-19 cases, hovering at record highs, by April to ensure this year's presidential election will not become a "superspreader" event, a top government adviser said on Monday.

The country of 110 million people, which is battling one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, is holding an election in May for thousands of positions, from president down to hundreds of lawmakers, mayors and governors.

Roughly 67.5 million Filipinos, including 1.7 million overseas, are registered to vote in the elections, which historically have a high turnout.

"We need to push the virus cases down in April so when we have elections in May, people will be safe," Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, medical adviser to the COVID-19 task force, told Reuters.

"(It is) very important that we are able to tame this virus before May 9."

Herbosa recommends the election commission expand the use of absentee balloting to include the elderly and people with health conditions.

For her part, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reminded local government units to implement the ban on mass gatherings.

“This has been a long standing protocol, bawal naman po talaga ang mass gathering,” Vergeire said at a media briefing on Tuesday. “Hindi natin kailangan mag antay pa hanggang April para ma prevent natin ang pagtaas ng kaso.”

(This has been a long-standing protocol. Mass gathering is really not allowed. We do not need to wait until April to prevent the increase in cases.)

She also called on candidates to practice safety protocols.

According to Vergeire, the Department of Health (DOH) has continuous coordination with other government agencies, specifically with the Commission on Elections.

“We will continue to coordinate with them so that the elections will be orderly,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of the DOH-Technical Advisory Group said crowd control and contingency plans are important.

“Dapat meron na tayong mga nakahandang Plan B or Plan C kung ano ang gagawin (we should have a Plan B or Plan C prepared),” she said.

Plans to extend the voting period to two days were shelved due to budget constraints.

The 2016 election saw a record voter turnout with 82%, with about 44.5 million people casting ballots, government data showed.

Daily coronavirus infections have hit records several times this month, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, prompting a tightening of mobility curbs. On Monday, the Philippines started a ban on unvaccinated people from public transport.

The country has recorded more than 3.24 million cases and nearly 53,000 deaths overall.

It has so far fully inoculated about half of its population, but many areas outside the capital region are lagging behind. — with a report from Joahna Lei Casilao/Reuters/VBL, GMA News