Robredo: Intensify COVID-19 vaccination, testing in provinces

Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday that there is a need to intensify COVID-19 vaccination and testing initiatives outside Metro Manila to counter the possible surge of COVID-19 cases in the regions.

Robredo made the announcement during her office's Swab Cab house-to-house, free mobile antigen COVID-19 testing  in Makati City.

"Ito kasi, nakita na natin itong pattern na ito with the past surges. Talagang nauuna sa Metro Manila, pero siyempre because of mobility ng tao, ‘yung mga umuuwi sa probinsya, talagang parang natural na ang susunod na mga surge, sa probinsya. Kaya nga kami, gumagawa na kami ngayon ng mga initiatives kung paano matutulungan ‘yung mga probinsya na nakakaranas din ng surge," Robredo said.

(We have seen this pattern before with past surges. It starts in Metro Manila, but people are mobile, they go to provinces, so it is natural that the surge will occur in the provinces next. That is why we are doing these initiatives to help the provinces address the surge in COVID-19 cases.)

"So, whenever local government units [LGUs] are willing to partner with us, we go there," she added.

Robredo said that her office's Vaccine Express, an initiative in which volunteer medical and non-medical workers provide logistical support to LGUs in administering COVID-19 vaccines, was recently in Camarines Sur and that there are requests for similar assistance coming from Mindanao.

Robredo said there is also a clamor for her office to expand the telemedicine platform Bayanihan E-Konsulta, which provides free consultation from a roster of volunteer doctors and can be accessed via Facebook messenger.

"In whatever form, we are willing to help. We have also been in Cebu, Palawan. We will be responding to these requests," she said.

The country has been recording over 32,000 new COVID-19 cases each day for the last six days based on Health department records. — BM, GMA News