As new mutations of the coronavirus spread, Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, August 10, said government strategies should evolve to cope with evolving COVID-19 variants.

In an interview on CNN’s The Source, Robredo noted the surge first-hand as her own free medical Bayanihan E-Konsulta service has also monitored the rise in COVID-19 cases since it started in April.

“We really need to recalibrate all our efforts now because Delta variant is a game-changer. There is a lot of things na mas delikado tayo (we are more at risk) compared to the previous surge,” she said.

Robredo was referring to the highly transmissible and contagious Delta variant, which she said her office is well-aware of months before. Seen as the driver of surges in Indonesia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian nations, the Philippines has so far lodged 450 cases of the variant with nine deaths.

READ: ‘We’re definitely feeling the surge,’ Robredo says as COVID-19 cases rise in E-Konsulta

The vice president criticized again the government for supposedly not doing enough and renewed her calls for more testing, better contact-tracing database, faster vaccination, and improved health care capacities.

She cited four things the government should focus on now that the Delta variant forced the two-week lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other provinces.

The first is to ramp up testing because “more tests will show where transmission is high,” the second is to create a centralized contact-tracing database, the third is to aim for a million shot “to curb new variants,” and the fourth is to prepare the health care system.

Robredo said even her recommendations to the national government have evolved. She previously suggested that the government should ramp up its vaccination to 750,000 a day.

“Pero (But) with the new information about the Delta variant, iyong dati nating recommendations hindi na pwede (our old recommendations are not enough),” she added, calling for at least a million jabs each day to reach herd immunity faster and curb the rise of Delta variant cases.

“Government exerted a lot of effort but with COVID-19, it is really never enough. Kahit saang lugar (Anywhere), it is never enough. It is evolving kahit iyong (even the) variants,” Robredo said.

READ: Robredo offers help on ‘last ever lockdown' COVID-19 response

In particular, she lamented the state of the country’s health care system as state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has not paid hospital claims while health workers are also complaining about the non-release of their hazard pay.

Robredo said the country didn’t prepare enough to be hospital-ready for another surge as major hospitals in Metro Manila announced on Monday, August 9, that their COVID-19 wards are already in full capacity.

“So, dapat talaga masyado tayong (we should really be) time nimble and agile para hinahabol natin ‘yun (so we can get ahead of the variant),” the lady official added.

And although she appreciates the efforts of the government agencies and private sector in easing the impact of the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and other provinces, as well as in vaccinating the population, Robredo stressed that the lockdown is “just a stop-gap measure.”

“It is not the end all. You can’t really say the declaration of ECQ will solve everything,” she said, noting that the lockdown should merely give a “breather” for the health system.