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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Gov't more prepared to face future pandemics says DOH official

Gov't more prepared to face future pandemics says DOH official

Published Mar 8, 2022 02:01 pm

Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged various countries around the world including the Philippines, the health sector learned a lot in terms of response and is now more prepared to confront future contagions, an official from the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday, March 8.

A local watchman installs a warning sign on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, placing a street in Parañaque City under granular lockdown. (ALI VICOY/MANILA BULLETIN)

During the daily Laging Handa public briefing, DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega stated that the government learned a lot when it comes to responding to a contagious and deadly virus such as Covid-19.

"Alam na ho natin kung paano ho i-prepare natin sarili natin sa next pandemic (We know now how to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic)," Vega said.

He firstly pointed out the importance of the surveillance system especially for new variants that may spread such as Omicron which caused a spike in Covid-19 cases in the country late December 2021 and early January.

Vega also emphasized the significance of the frontlines and the urgency to immediately report to Local Government Units (LGUs) or to Regional Health Centers the increase in cases for any kind of contagious disease that's about to arrive.

On the other hand, hospital systems are also prepared, according to him, as treatment for diseases now is very different from how it was two years ago.

"Mayroon na tayong antiviral, meron na tayong vaccines. Siguro in the future magkakaroon tayo ng more focused vaccines na talagang tatamaan yung mga variants of concern (We have antivirals, we have vaccines. Maybe in the future we'll have vaccines that are intended for variants of concern)," he said.

Worst is over?

Asked on whether he agrees with OCTA Research Fellow Guido David's statement that the worst is over for Covid-19, Vega said that cases are continuing to drop in the country.

What is needed now, according to him, is a flexible plan for isolation, detection and treatment facilities should cases in Metro Manila or other regions increase again.

But since cases are going down and vaccination rates are high, Vega said that they are hoping that this is the transition from emergency response to an adoptive recovery response.

As of March 7, Monday, the country's seven-day average daily cases is at 899 or 30 percent lower than the figures from Feb. 22 to Feb. 28. Among the new cases, 3 or 0.05 percent are with severe and critical Covid-19 infection.

Related Tags

department of health COVID-19 pandemic covid-19 Department of Health (DOH) COVID-19 CASES COVID-19 vaccines leopoldo vega covid-19 vaccination covid-19 vaccine doh
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