Malacañang reiterated the country has been managing the COVID-19 situation “very well” exactly a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a pandemic.
“Ang importante po nababawasan natin iyong mga namamatay at handa po tayong gamutin ang mga magkakasakit na malala (What is important is we have lessened the number of deaths and we are ready to attend to severe cases,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque pointed out.
Sec. Roque said the increase of cases in the past few days should not invalidate the measures that have been undertaken since the beginning of the pandemic, particularly the Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat, Reintegrate Strategy. However, there are still areas for improvement in the response.
“I would say that an area for tremendous improvement will be the tracing, the use of a tracing app,” he admitted.
He added the number of traced individuals should follow the advice of Tracing Czar Benjamin Magalong of 32 individuals per positive case.
The IATF-EID has a meeting today and among the agenda will be response to protocol burnout and the improvement of other policies. Authorities continue urging the public to follow protocols amid the detection of new variants. – Report from Mela Lesmoras
