Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has warned that tightened physical distancing in public transportation could drive a surge of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.
Citing studies by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 (HPAAC), Duque told President Rodrigo Duterte and other cabinet members that such reduction alone may cause 20,0000 additional cases every month.
“Ang death rate natin (our death rate), new cases everyday will reach 686 per day. So if you multiply that by 30 days, you will have about 20,580 cases. Ito po per day po ‘yan (This is per day). So iyan po ang bagong kaso (Those will be the new cases),” Duque explained.
Duque also pointed out that the change in DOTr’s distancing policy would result in nearly 4,000 deaths per year.
“If you multiply that by 1.6 which is our case fatality rate, meaning the number of deaths over the number of total infection, ang lalabas po rito will be 3,951 deaths per year (the result will be 3,951 deaths per year),” Duque emphasized.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Aῆo stood firm in maintaining the default one-meter distance among passengers after mentioning the statement of health workers and groups that the tightening of distance may cause another spike.
Meanwhile, NTF Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. defended the decision of the DOTr. He explained that the transmission rate will remain low with commuters’ observance of health protocols.
“Mayroon na po tayong gagawing ano po sir eh, tinatawag nating risk mitigation. One of those is ‘yung proper ventilation, meaning ‘yung ano po sir, dapat nagsi-circulate ‘yung hangin (We will have what we call risk mitigation. One of those is proper ventilation, meaning the air must be circulating),” Galvez said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has already asked on Monday evening for a comprehensive report and visual representation on the matter.
The OCTA Research Group earlier stated that the new protocol might lead to higher transmission rate.
As of September 15, there are 269,407 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 207,352 recoveries and 4,663 fatalities nationwide.
– Report from Mark Fetalco
