The World Health Organization (WHO) representative to the Philippine has cautioned the Department of Health (DOH) in its messaging to the public, as classifying the country as “low risk” for COVID-19 may have negative implications.
WHO representative to the Philippine Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe reminded on Tuesday, July 6, that COVID-19 continues to threaten countries at this point in time.
“Classifying any country as low-risk has implications. We are in a pandemic. The virus is everywhere and we are seeing countries experiencing surges,” Abeyasinghe said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
“Are we at low risk of future COVID cases? No, we are not at low risk of future cases because this is a pandemic. We are dealing with a very delicate situation,” he added.
Related story: DOH says PH classification now at 'low risk' for COVID-19
Abeyasinghe believes that the DOH needs to be “more cautious” in giving COVID-19 updates to the public.
“I think we need to be more cautious. It is not costly to err on the side of caution. We need to be consistent in our messaging. The public needs to be aware that the risk remains, they need to follow the protocols, they need to follow the minimum health standards,” he said.
“Giving them wrong messaging could result in lower compliance in those minimum health standards,” he added.
Related story: PH COVID-19 situation still 'fragile' despite low-risk classification
The DOH last July 1 reported that the risk classification of the Philippines for COVID-19 is already at low-risk. However, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on July 3 said that the country’s situation remains “fragile” as some areas are still experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases.
PH COVID-19 response
Meanwhile, Abeyasinghe commended the Philippines in its response in warding off infections from the Delta variant.
“We commend the Philippines for the measures they have implemented in holding the variant out. So far what we have confirmed among the limited sampling for genome sequencing is that we’ve only picked up the Delta variant at points of entry or returning Filipinos,” he said.
“What is good is that up to now, with the limited samplings, we have not been able to pick up evidence of Delta variant transmission in the communities. That is good because what we know about the transmissibility of the Delta variant is that it is significantly more transmissible,” he added.
The Philippines has so far detected 19 cases of Delta variant.
The country’s COVID-19 death toll is also relatively lower compared to other countries, he said.
“The number of people who have succumbed to this virus in the country is comparatively lower than many other countries which were thought to have higher capacity and higher resource access. From that perspective....it appears that the Philippines has done a good job,” he said.
This can be attributed to the implementation of lockdown and that because the Philippines have more “younger population,” said the WHO official.
“One of the main reasons is you have a relatively young population. The proportion of your elderly is smaller than countries that have seen a large number of deaths.” he added.
“You have one of the longest and stringent lockdowns, trying to minimize the transmission of the virus affecting as many people as possible. You did something that many countries have not done to protect the elderly by asking them to stay house-bound not to expose themselves to the virus,” he said.