Vice President Leni Robredo expressed hope that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country will continue to drop in the coming weeks to pave the way for the recovery of the country’s economy.
“The numbers today, while still high, give us reason to hope,” Robredo said in her personal Facebook page. As of Sept. 7, the Department of Health (DOH) reported that there are 238,727 COVID-19 cases in the country. “Let’s hope we further push these numbers down,” she added.
Robredo also noted that the medical experts “were right to demand” for a two-week Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ). In August, medical frontliners called for a “timeout” as they urged the government to rethink its strategy against the fight against COVID-19. President Duterte heeded their call and enforced MECQ in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces including Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan from Aug. 4 to 18.
The MECQ demanded by medical frontliners, Robredo said, was very instrumental to the current coronavirus trend in the country.
“We’re seeing the fruits of that now,” she said. From record-breaking numbers in August - when the COVID-19 cases were as high as almost 7,000 positive cases in a day - she noted that “we’re down to more than a thousand a day.”
Robredo also noted that from a positivity rate of more than 12 percent, the country is down to just over 10 percent the past week. While this is “still way over” the World Health Organization (WHO) target of less than five percent, “we need to keep working on it.”
“New York is doing 100,000 tests a day and their positivity rate is less than 1%,” Robredo said. “Kaya din natin maabot ito basta magtulong tulong tayo (We can also achieve this if we work together),” she added.
Robredo also expressed optimism that the the COVID-19 numbers in the country will “continue drop” in the next few weeks. “Para naman kahit papaano, unti unti nang bumalik yung sigla ng ating ekonomiya (This would somehow help the country’s economy to slowly recover),” she added.
While the current numbers are encouraging, Robredo urged everyone to remain vigilant. “While the numbers give us hope, this is no time to relax or be complacent,” she said.
Robredo said that for the country to win its fight against COVID-19, people should continue to observe the strictest health and safety protocols. “Let us also pray fervently that all who are sick and those afflicted by the virus will get well soon and that our frontliners will be cloaked in the mantle of protection,” she ended.