A former health secretary is not in favor of reimposing the strict enhance community quarantine (ECQ) despite of the apparent surge in new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections recently.
Former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Manuel Dayrit has recommended that the government should focus its efforts in ensuring that the public is strictly observing the minimum health standards protocols to curb the spread of the dreaded disease.
“As far as an immediate ECQ, I don’t want to say we should do it, kasi drastic ‘yan (because that is drastic) and we know it has an economic impact. So we shouldn’t just say close everything again,” Dayrit said in a press briefing Monday, March 8.
For three straight days, the DOH reported more than 3,000 new infections nationwide, bring the total number of cases in the country to 594,412 as of Sunday, March 7.
“Policy wise, we have to make sure that anybody who goes out strictly speaking minimum health standards complied with kasi ‘yan ang immediate response natin eh (because that is our immediate response). That will have an immediate impact because it will stop transmission,” he said.
Also on Sunday, the OCTA Research Group reported that the number of new infections in Metro Manila continued to rise, similar to the region’s rate of increase in July 2020.
“However, this surge is spreading more quickly than the July-August surge, and this suggests the possibility that the surge is driven by SARS-Cov2 variants,” OCTA said.
Drop in compliance
As for Dayrit, the reason behind the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country “is actually due to a drop in compliance” of health protocols, which he said can be fixed, “and also an increase in the mobility.”
“Diyan natin kailangan i-balanse kasi (That's where we need to balance because) we want to open up the economy. And therefore if we’re gonna do an ECQ, we have to see ano ‘yung impact niyan (what is the impact) because ang policy natin ngayon (our policy right now) is to open up the economy,” he said.
Accelerated vaccination drive
The former health chief noted that compared last year, the country is now in possession of COVID-19 vaccines, and has already started its vaccination program.
“Compared to last year, meron tayong vaccine ngayon (we now have a vaccine). Therefore, minimum health standards plus accelerated vaccination I think is the way to go,” Dayrit said.
The Philippines has kicked off its vaccination program on March 1 following the arrival of 600,000 vaccines developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech,
The Sinovac vaccines were donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines.
Last week, the country has also received AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX facility—a global initiative that seeks to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
“So for me, what we need to do is make sure that minimum health standards are enforced, get our population to make sure they’re doing it kasi i think, impressionistically, sinasabi nila nagiging lax ang mga tao (because i think, impressionistically, they say people have become lax), they’re not complying with minimum health standards,” Dayrit said.
“I wouldn’t say close it down immediately, given the other priorities that we have in mind, particularly opening up the economy slowly and safely,” he added.