The country is faring well in combating the coronavirus pandemic compared to other nations, President Duterte declared Monday even though cases of infections have exceeded one million.
The President made the observation after citing the high number of people recovering from the coronavirus illness based on the report of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
Duque was giving a report on the country's cases of COVID-19 infections, recoveries, and deaths during a meeting with the President and other officials when Duterte remarked the health chief was the nation's "hero" in the battle against coronavirus.
"Compared with other countries, which is not really the time to make comparisons, but we are doing good in the fight against COVID," Duterte said in a televised address Monday, May 3.
"And Secretary Duque is the hero there," he added.
The country has seen an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, that prompted the government to tighten movement controls to slow down the transmission.
As of May 3, the country recorded 7,255 new case of infections, that brought the total number to 1,062,225. The number of people who recovered from coronavirus has reached 975,234 More than 17,000 people have died from the illness since the outbreak started last year.
In his remarks, the President asked the people to look into the number of people who got infected and recovered from the coronavirus. He pointed out that over 900,000 Filipinos have survived the illness. "'Yung rate ng recovery tingnan naman ninyo (Take a look at the rate of recovery)," he said.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) earlier confirmed the issuance of a memo directing state media agencies to report that the country was "faring better than many other countries" in addressing the pandemic. The memo, which ordered regular updates on world data about COVID-19 cases, was reportedly issued upon the order of the President.