The number of new COVID-19 cases to be reported during the next few days could reach more than the record-high 7,000 cases on Monday, the president of the Philippine College of Physicians said on Tuesday.
Group president Mario Panaligan told Unang Hirit the backlogs and incubation period of COVID-19 were still affecting the trend in the total number of cases.
“Mahirap sabihin na nangangahalati na lang dahil sabi ko nga, 'yung epekto ng modified enhanced community quarantine hindi pa natin makikita,” Panaligan said.
“Aasahan ko pa nga na puwede pang mas marami pa bukas o mamaya kasi hindi pa natin makikita.”
Panaligan made his statement after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the number of COVID-19 cases had been reduced by half due to the MECQ implementation.
But Panaligan says it will take weeks before the effect of the MECQ is seen.
“Hindi pa natin makikita 'yung epekto ng MECQ. Pangalawa, alalahanin natin na may mga backlogs pa rin 'yan, e. Pangatlo, ito ‘yung dati nang, sabihin natin na nag-in-incubate period pa, ay ngayon kumokonsulta.
“Kahit naman sabihin natin na wala nang MECQ, GCQ [general community quarantine] na, kung magiging pabaya naman tayo, babalik at babalik ‘yung dami ng nagkakasakit,” he said.
The Philippines on Monday again logged a record-high number of new COVID-19 cases after the Health department announced 6,958 new infections, raising the total to 136,638. Of this number, 68,159 had recovered while the death toll climbed to 2,293.
Infected health workers reach 5,551
The Health department on Tuesday said there were now 5,551 health workers in the Philippines infected with COVID-19, and of which 610 were active cases.
As of Aug. 9, the department’s latest COVID-19 situation report showed that 4,902 of the infected personnel had recovered from the disease, while the death toll remained at 39.
With the COVID-19 cases in the Philippines continuing to increase and reaching 129,860 on Aug. 9, the percentage of health workers in proportion to the total was still relatively low at 4 percent.
Earlier in the pandemic, the percentage of health workers with COVID-19 rose to almost 20 percent.
Cautious over contact tracers
The Health department of Health on Tuesday cautioned the public against giving information to a group of individuals claiming to be government contact tracers.
The department said the group was involved in extortion.
“We have received reports of citizens getting calls from certain individuals misrepresenting themselves as members of the [Health department’s] Contact Tracing Team. They maliciously ask for personal information and extort money in the process,” the department said in a statement.
“The public is advised to be vigilant and not entertain these calls. Do not give out your personal information and end the call. Take note of the number and block it. Do not put your security at risk.”
Six proposals on COVID-19
More than 100 health-care workers and advocates issued a unified statement on Monday, putting forward six proposals for policy and governance changes to strategically address COVID-19 and improve the health care system.
In light of the plight of health care workers calling for a reprieve in the overburdened hospitals, the group Solidarity of Health Advocates and Personnel for a Unified Plan to Defeat COVID-19 said “the government must seriously and immediately take decisive action to address the dire situation holistically.”
However, the modified enhanced community quarantine without the government's comprehensive action plan and the recalibration of strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 cases at the community level, as well as the failures at so many basic aspects, will only prove futile as it did in March, the group said.
The group also said the militarist handling of the pandemic “wreaks fear among the people and proliferates human rights violations while doing little to curb the number of cases.”
Supply of critical products pushed
A senior leader of the House of Representatives on Tuesday said he wants to make sure the country has an adequate and readily available supply of critical products such as medicines, vaccines, personal protective equipment and ventilators needed in the continuing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
To do so, Deputy Speaker for Finance and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte filed a bill that mandates exemption from the payment of taxes and customs duties all goods in the entire chain of
the manufacture, production and distribution of these products.
Villafuerte said the intention of the bill “is to be able to adopt efficient and effective measures that will prevent the overburdening of the healthcare system and, at the same time, develop the healthcare and manufacturing industries by also preserving and generating employment during the crisis.”
Allow medical graduates to take tests
A legislator on Tuesday called on the Professional Regulation Commission to allow medical graduates to take their licensure examinations to address the shortage of doctors and other medical frontliners in the fight against COVID-19.
Rep. Florida Robes of San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan criticized the move of the PRC to postpone several times the conduct of the Physician Licensure Examinations due to the pandemic.
She said the postponements had affected the response of hospitals to the COVID-19 pandemic because, aside from the shortage of doctors, the graduates could not be deployed full time without the required credentials.
It has been reported that the country has a shortage of some 63,000 medical doctors.