Senator Richard Gordon on Monday warned that a pandemic scenario similar to India, where a vicious surge of COVID-19 infections is observed, is highly likely to occur in the Philippines.
“Yes, I think there’s an India scenario that can happen in the Philippines,” Gordon said in a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).
“An India scenario is very, very possible here, especially [that] it’s a very vicious virus that they have there,” the lawmaker furthered.
RELATED STORY: Bodies of COVID-19 victims thrown to rivers in India – State official confirms
Gordon pointed out that the country got complacent and overconfident hence the surge of cases early in April.
“Look at what happened to us, we were lazy in terms of policing our people. All you have to do is [ask] ‘Do you have a mask?’ and if you don’t have a mask, the government should constantly provide masks,” he said.
“If I had my way, I would even give a bar of soap and also, exaggeratedly enough, even a meter stick so that people are not gonna come near them. There are many things that we can do,” he said.
Gordon stressed that the India pandemic situation can be avoided if the national government will expedite the COVID-19 vaccination program
“Speed up the line, put up a quick response mechanism – ambulances and doctors should be ready to come in right away,” he said.
READ ON: Surge on black fungus detected among COVID-19 patients in India
The Philippine Red Cross Chairman suggested that the government should ramp up the country’s testing and tracing capabilities.
“Again, tracing. How can you fight something that you do not know who it is,” Gordon underscored.
Gordon likened the contact tracing to a crime report where the severity of the pandemic is hitting particular communities can be seen.
He said it is important to test everybody in the affected area to know the severity of the spread of Covid-19.
“Lock it down before it spreads, and lock perhaps an extra few kilometers from that area and start testing everybody so that you prevent it,” Gordon said. (RA)
