Solante says high time to remove 'emergency' tag on COVID-19

As far as infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante is concerned, it is already "high time" to remove the emergency tag on COVID-19.

During Wednesday's Laging Handa briefing, Solante noted the "sustained" low number of COVID-19 cases being reported.

"I think it's high time na puwede na nating tanggalin ang emergency label ng COVID-19 because of the persistent and sustained number of cases na talagang mababa na," he said.

(I think it’s high time that we remove the emergency label of COVID-19 because of the persistent and sustained low number of recorded cases.)

"And the fact na meron na tayong mga bakunang available, meron na rin tayong antiviral agents available. So these are interventions that in case kung meron mang tataas na mga kaso, we can manage and we can control it," he added.

(And the fact that we have available vaccines and antiviral agents. So these are interventions we can do in case there is an increase in cases, we can manage and we can control it.)

Though he believes that removing the emergency label on COVID-19 is a possibility, Solante said the government will wait for the World Health Organization's decisions.

"But probably in the next administration, that's something that they will discuss so that we can move on and just treat this as an endemic infection," Solante said.

In March 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a proclamation declaring a public health emergency over the then-rising number of COVID-19 cases. —KBK, GMA News