"It is clear we can no longer afford to shut down the economy."
"It is clear we can no longer afford to shut down the economy."
The figures speak for themselves.
In my interview with Dr. Guido David of the OCTA Research Group yesterday, the COVID UK and South African variants appear to have contributed to the spike in the number of infections, particularly in Metro Manila.
The rise in cases in Pasay City, Malabon and Navotas supports the hypothesis on the outbreak of COVID variants.
I am glad though that the local governments have taken drastic steps to address the crisis, including localized lockdown and imposition of curfew.
If the trend continues, the country’s total number of COVID-19 cases, which is now at 603,300, will breach the 660,000-mark by the end of March, OCTA group said.
But the Department of Health (DOH) officials are not intimidated by the swelling numbers as active cases are far from filling the empty beds available for COVID-19 patients.
They cited the number of recoveries—546,293 as of March 10.
I think the DOH should tell us more about stories of recoveries, of how people beat Covid even before getting the jab versus the diseases.
The DOH said the latest spike does not constitute a surge in COVID-19, contrary to OCTA Group’s interpretation of DOH data of a pattern of consistent increase.
According to health officials, the sudden increase in the reported infections may be attributed to the recent relaxation of protocols, such as opening of cinemas, arcades and galleries.
There has also been an increase in traveling, following the easing of travel requirements.
Good thing locally stranded individuals and repatriated overseas workers have finally returned to their families in the provinces.
Despite the recent postings of 3,000 cases of COVID-19 daily, Malacańang is not about to impose a wide-scale lockdown as it haphazardly did last year, shutting down the economy.
Local Governments Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is not about to recommend setting up of checkpoints in Metro Manila, disrupting mass transportation as it did in the chaotic enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
It is clear we can no longer afford to shut down the economy; we must strive for economic recovery.
I agree with the Metro Manila mayors who now opt for uniform curfew hours.
Strictly imposing curfew hours, with the exception of workers, is one of the first things that we should have enforced, as well as suspending classes and banning foreign tourists, as early as January last year.
Now, we must go back to the basics of increasing public awareness about the continued spread of COVID-19 and the manifestation of UK and South African variants.
The public must be given a complete update of the government’s vaccination program through massive information drive down to the grassroots level as soon as possible in anticipation of the general vaccine rollout.
Learning and observing the minimum health and safety standards should now be integrated in every students’ module to be discussed.
Despite the bleak picture that current figures paint, there could be a silver lining in the offing.
