(File photo)
MANILA – The country’s Covid-19 response is on the “right track” due to a decline in both Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions, a Palace official said.
“Yes, we are on the right track, definitely. The fact that we are one of the third lowest in Covid mortality at talagang napakababa ng utilization rate ng ating mga hospital beds, ibig sabihin walang pasyente, maayos lahat (and our hospital bed utilization rate is low, there are few patients. It means everything is going smoothly),” acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said in an interview on Daily Tribune’s “Straight Talk” program on Tuesday.
Andanar described the country’s improved Covid-19 response as a “vindication” of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his administration.
“We have a Covid policy unlike some of our neighbors in Southeast Asia. At ngayon nakikita natin, mayroong surge doon, may surge sa kabila. Pero tayo, nandiyan tayo, nag-o-open tayo ng ating ekonomiya (And now we see there are surges there, but we're reopening our economy). So this is a vindication to all of the tough policies that we followed during the last two years,” he added.
In a prerecorded Talk to the People aired on March 7, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Duterte's leadership coupled with Filipinos' compliance to health protocols have led to the Philippines having fewer Covid-19 infections compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
Duque said other countries have more cases now because the Philippines had a surge in cases caused by the Omicron-variant earlier than its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Data from the OCTA Research group showed that the Philippines logged the second lowest Covid-19 average daily attack rate (ADAR) in Southeast Asia with an ADAR of 0.43.
ADAR refers to the number of infected people per 100,000 population.
The Department of Health’s weekly Covid-19 caseload showed a total of 3,572 new Covid-19 cases from March 14 to 20, 13 percent lower than the cases reported last week.
This figure brings the nationwide tally to 3,674,694 Covid-19 cases.
To date, several parts of the country are under Alert Level 1 until the end of the month where there are no restrictions in terms of indoor and outdoor capacities but minimum public health standards are retained.
The government is now discussing plans to downgrade other parts of the country to alert level zero. (PNA)
