Senator Christopher “Bong” Go has called on the government to strengthen its monitoring system in the country’s borders as more travelers coming from China raises concerns of a surge in more COVID-19 cases.
“Secure our borders. Intensify our monitoring. Review our current protocols especially from incoming travelers from China because it has been reported that COVID-19 cases there are increasing and they are having lockdowns,” Go said in Filipino during an ambush interview in Misamis Oriental on Monday, January 2.
Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, likewise, urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) to review and strengthen COVID-19 guidelines in order to prevent the Philippines from being impacted by the surge of COVID-19 cases in China.
“Reviewing the guidelines should be a daily basis so that not one positive for COVID can get through because it’s difficult to start all over again,” Go said.
“It is very difficult to put to waste what we worked hard for. We have come a long way in our COVID response and we don't want to go back to what was done before, strictly imposing lockdowns. Many of our countrymen will lose their jobs again,” he added.
As far as he is concerned, the senator said Filipinos should not relax their vigilance as long as COVID-19 is still present.
“It’s important for us to balance everything. While COVID is still here, it is still dangerous,” he said.
Go reiterated his call for people who are still unvaccinated to get jabbed and those who are eligible for boosters to get themselves boosted, stressing these are essential for combatting COVID-19.
“Vaccination is the only key or solution so that we can gradually return to our normal lives and have herd immunity. When we are vaccinated, we are more protected,” he stressed.