Charles Teves
People are left wondering why the Philippine government’s response to the pandemic is worse than ever before.
They believe there still exists a lack of urgency and competence from people in authority.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country recently hit 800,000, and for some reason, the number keeps going up.
The recorded cases per month last year were much better than the first three months of 2021.
Edson Guido, a reliable fixture on social media, tweeted the data for comparison.
Confirmed cases by month:
2020
Mar= 2,078
Apr= 6,380
May= 9,532
Jun= 19,252
Jul= 54,960
Aug= 127,707
Sep= 90,457
Oct= 69,874
Nov= 51,024
Dec= 42,5132021
Jan= 51,613
Feb= 50,786
Ma = 171,109 (new record) ‼️We'll have full March testing figures once DOH uploads March 31 data. pic.twitter.com/vtIE1OjLQ8
— Edson (@EdsonCGuido) March 31, 2021
The graphic shows that in March last year, only a little more than 2,000 cases were recorded.
However, the number of cases in the same month this year ended with 171,000.
The country hit an all-time high with over 15,000 new cases logged on April 2.
A day after that, the Department of Health recorded 12,576 more cases.
Those kinds of figures usually refer to the number of cases recorded in a month, but these days they represent the number of daily cases reported.
Before President Rodrigo Duterte placed the Greater Manila area under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the country recorded 9,595 cases on March 27.
There are currently over 165,715 active cases in the Philippines today.
Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III recently admitted that the government did not expect the surge of confirmed cases in March.
“We never expected that the surge will be more than that of last year. We have to remember that the health care system was already that strong as early as January,” he said in an ABS-CBN News Channel interview.
“We expected a vacation or holiday surge, and even the Traslacion, but it did not happen. The system was strong until the second surge came in the first week of March but it was more than what was expected last year,” he added.
Groups fighting for health workers’ rights meanwhile do not support Duterte’s ‘militaristic’ ECQ since the government has yet to implement a strategy for the pandemic.
The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) has advised that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) be changed since its members are full of “former military officials who are unknowledgeable on how to respond to a health crisis.”
HEAD chairperson Dr. Edelina dela Paz said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should be removed, a recommendation made by several Duterte allies in the past.
The Filipino Nurses United (FNU) on the other hand criticized the government for refusing a mass hiring of nurses.
“The nurse to patient ratio in COVID-19 wards should be 1:3 for moderate to severe COVID patients and 1:1 for critical care. But in reality, one nurse handles an average of 12 severe cases and in the intensive care unit, one nurse takes care of 2-3 patients,” said Jaymmee de Guzman, FNU national treasurer.
Another group, “Bantay Bakuna,” urged the government to expedite COVID-19 vaccine procurement, adding that jabs should be free to the public.
It also highlighted the importance of contact tracing and mass testing.
