The Department of Health (DOH) has rejected calls to revert to the stricter community quarantine amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.
The DOH said that local government units are well-prepared, and that following health standard and local lockdowns will do for now.
“For now, we are not contemplating this regionwide ECQ. If you observe, this is not the only measure we can implement. When we had a meeting with the mayors, it was agreed on that there will be localized responses, these will be intensive responses—barangays, sitios, increased visibility of enforcers,” DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
The health official added that the rise in cases is not only due to the new COVID-19 variants.
“A lot of people in their minds would say it’s the variant. But we need to understand, our health protocols are (number 1) in our response. If we become complacent, cases will rise. Variant detection is just an aggravating factor,” she said.
The DOH also refused to call the surge in new cases a ‘second wave’.
“We would like to veer away from classifying this as having a second wave. What we are saying now is that there is marked increase in cases, and people have to be cautious, and LGUs have to step up with their response,” she added.
The OCTA research group projects that the country may record at least 6,000 new COVID-19 cases daily before the end of this month if the new COVID-19 variants will not be contained.
In a report on Sunday, the independent research group said the single-day nationwide tally could grow to around 5,000 to 6,000 by the end of March.
OCTA added that the daily case count in the National Capital Region, the epicenter of the pandemic, could reach 2,000, which could further rise to 3,000 before April.
