The Department of Finance (DOF) said Filipinos need to learn to live with COVID-19 despite the fear of it, but at the same time the country should remain vigilant as the coronavirus’ mutations continue to occur.

As current surge accelerates way faster than the previous wave of infections, Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil S. Beltran said on Monday, Jan. 10, that the administration of vaccines is a strategy for living with the virus.

“The administration of vaccines will help the country live with the virus,” Beltran said in a DOF economic bulletin submitted to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.

“As always, however, the country needs to stay alert and not let its guard down as the virus continues to mutate,” he added.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said last week that the current government strategies have showed success in managing COVID-19 risks while allowing more mobility and economic activity.

Beltran said these policies have allowed the economy to create more than 1.65 million jobs in November last year.

The number of unemployed in the country dropped by 345,000 and those not in the labor force, by nearly 1.2 million, based on the November 2021 Labor Force Survey.

The employment rate consequently improved from 92.60 percent in October to 93.5 percent in November while the unemployment rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 6.5 percent over the same period.

“Medium- to long-term, the passage of the amendments to the Foreign Investment Act, Public Service Act, and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act will help bring in more capital, generate more employment (and possibly better wages without having to raise the minimum wage), and make the economy more competitive,” Beltran said.

“The recent signing into law the amendments to the RTLA is a welcome development towards better economic recovery and ultimately better employment opportunities,” he added.

Last week, President Duterte’s economic managers said the imposition of stricter quarantine status over Metro Manila and nearby provinces is a necessary setback in the country’s recovery in the wake of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) said the shift to strict Alert Level 3 for National Capital Region (NCR) plus, or Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, will result in an economic productivity loss of about P3 billion per week.

The number of cases in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces has been increasing rapidly during the past three-weeks. The positivity rate has also breached the 40 percent mark, well above the World Health Organization’s standard of less than five percent.

The sharp spike in new COVID-19 resulted in higher alert level until Jan. 15.

However, the DBCC said the country is in a better position to manage possible spikes in COVID-19 infections.

“We have enough vaccines and funding for booster shots; we have increased hospital capacity; we now resort to granular lockdowns; and, from all indications, the Omicron variant results in less severe cases, especially to those who are fully vaccinated,” the DBCC said.

As of Jan. 5, a total of 110.9 million doses have been rolled out. Of that number, 57.3 million and 51.1 million doses were administered as the first dose and complete dose, respectively, while 2.5 million doses were administered as booster shots.