Whether quarantine classifications are imposed or relaxed anew, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis will not end if the government will not make "significant" changes in its response, senators have maintained.
The government eased the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed over Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Rizal, Laguna and Bulacan to the modified ECQ starting Monday, April 12 until April 30, 2021, amid the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases.
"Regardless of the quarantine classification, we need to see a significant change in policy," Senator Joel Villanueva said in a message to reporters when asked to comment on the development.
"We need to decongest our hospitals and upgrade its capacity to take care of the sick. We’ll never go wrong in capacitating our hospitals," he also pointed out.
Villanueva also reiterated the need for "proper" contact tracing, surveillance testing and early vaccination of essential workers.
Senator Imee Marcos, meanwhile, maintained that lockdowns will not solve the pandemic.
"We keep acting on reflex. It’s not the lockdown category that’s important. We know that the ECQ doesn’t work, even after a year of suffering," Marcos said in a separate statement.
Echoing her colleague, she said: "We haven’t learned our lesson. What are still needed are testing, contact tracing, and the mysterious vaccines! We should support the health system through these medical approaches, and ramp up the construction, provision and upgrade of isolation and other emergency wards."
"We should hire more healthworkers and pay them decent wages as well as hazard pay - a long-held promise that we continue to break," she added.
"It’s not about policing ever-changing lockdown levels; it’s about urgent, science-based, medical solutions. Is there a doctor in our public health house?" Marcos pointed out.
President Duterte's long-time aide and Senator Christopher "Bong" Go explained that the Chief Executive's approval of the shift to MECQ was based on the recommendations of the interagency task force and health experts.
But Go also called for a "concerted effort" to fast track the expansion of health care facilities and strengthen COVID-19 testing and contact tracing efforts, among other health interventions.
The administration senator also admitted the need to accelerate vaccination in accordance with the vaccine prioritization list.