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Fernandez to miss SEA Games meet due to Covid-19 surge in Vietnam

By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno

March 11, 2022, 5:49 pm

<p>Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Mon Fernandez <em>(Screengrab from Sports Hour Facebook live video)</em></p>

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Mon Fernandez (Screengrab from Sports Hour Facebook live video)

MANILA – Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Mon Fernandez said Friday that he will not attend the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games chef de mission (CDM) meeting next week in Hanoi due to the current coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation in Vietnam.

With only over two months left before the regional sporting event's opening on May 12, Vietnam is currently experiencing a huge spike in Covid-19 cases with the country tallying a record-high number of new infections at 265,163 on Wednesday.

"I was talking to Congressman Bambol [Tolentino] last Wednesday. In-advise nya ako, 'Pupunta ka pa ba? Two hundred sixty thousand na ang [bagong] Covid positive cases sa Vietnam ngayon.' Natakot naman ako. Sabi ko, 'Pwede ba, Cong., sina Tom Carrasco, Jarryd Bello, at saka DCDM (deputy chef de mission) Carl Sambrano na lang ang pumunta?' Sabi niya, 'Oo. Sila na lang na mga bata (He advised me, 'Are you still going there? There are 260,000 new cases in Vietnam today.' I was scared. So I said, 'Cong, can we just send Tom Carrasco, Jarryd Bello, and DCDM Carl Sambrano instead?' He said, 'Yes. Let's just send the younger ones there instead),'" said Fernandez, the designated CDM for the Philippine team, during the PSC Hour over state-run Radyo Pilipinas.

The 68-year-old Philippine Basketball Association legend said that his decision is a health and safety precaution.

"Mahirap na matsambahan ang senior citizen eh (We must be careful, a senior citizen could get hit)," Fernandez said.

Vietnam also announced back-to-back days of more than 200,000 new cases as it posted a second-worst 218,459 new cases on Thursday.

Counting the 202,180 cases added on Sunday, Vietnam has actually posted spikes of 200,000 Covid-19 cases in three of the last five days.

Citing data, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said Vietnam is currently experiencing a severe outbreak, a tough situation the country is in considering that it was a model country in terms of controlling Covid-19 early into the pandemic.

Hope remains

Meanwhile, fellow PSC commissioner Celia Kiram is hoping that the SEA Games could push through as rescheduled from May 12 to 23 amid the ongoing spike in Vietnam, saying that the national sports associations (NSAs) have already exerted a lot of efforts in preparing the 656-athlete-strong national team.

"Gusto kong matuloy kasi sayang yung preparasyon ng mga NSAs sa kanilang mga atleta (I want the games to push through because if not, the preparation of the NSAs for the athletes would be wasted)," Kiram said during the Sports on Air weekly podcast on Friday.

Fernandez, on the other hand, hopes that Vietnam would control the Covid-19 situation there by May 1 if it intends to continue on with the games.

"We're hoping that by May 1, medyo ma-control na talaga nila ito kagaya nung nagawa natin (they will control the outbreak somehow like how we did it)," he added. (PNA)

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