Since the lockdown was eased in June, the Philippines has been witnessing a constant surge in COVID-19 cases. After medical experts expressed their concerns over the distressing situation, the government has revised its strategy to tackle the pandemic.
By Nikita Soni
The alarming spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines has called for growing criticism. Doctors in the country have appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to re-introduce strict measures in order to ensure that the overburdened healthcare system doesn’t collapse.
Since the lockdown was eased in June, the Philippines has been witnessing a constant surge in coronavirus infection. As of August 29, the Southeast Asian country had recorded 213,131 confirmed cases, including 135,101 recoveries and 3,419 deaths.
Growth story
The first case of COVID-19 in the country was identified on January 30, when a 38-year-old Chinese woman had arrived in Metro Manila from Hong Kong. The Department of Health (DOH) announced 6,725 new cases – the highest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases – on August 10, 2020.
The country has 112 sub-national laboratories capable of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus and has conducted a total of over 2.5 million tests so far, and 10.6 percent of those tested are positive.
The National Capital Region (NCR), also known as the Metropolitan Manila, accounted for 2030 out of the 3637 new COVID-19 cases recorded on August 29, accounting for more than 50 percent of the new cases. Metro Manila reported nearly 120k confirmed cases of the disease, out of which 76,297 have already recovered, while 1,663 died as of August 29. The majority of the deaths have been in the 60+ age group, with 60 percent of the diseased being male.
Recovery plans
Lockdowns, also known as community quarantines, were imposed throughout the country since March 15 to prevent a nationwide spread of the disease. The Philippine authorities announced that borders would remain closed to most foreign nationals, mainly from Mainland China and South Korea. Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon was the largest of these measures, which was a total lockdown with restricted movement of the population, except for essential services.
In June, though, ECQ was downgraded to General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Once the restrictions were lifted, there were growing instances of recklessness among the population, with little regard for social distancing and safety measures, leading to the spike in cases.
After medical experts expressed their concerns over the distressing situation, the Philippines Government has revised and refreshed its strategy to tackle the pandemic. The government announced a stimulus package of $3.93 billion to protect the citizens and businesses from the impact of the outbreak.
The Philippines is not just the biggest importer from China, but travellers from China also account for the majority of the country’s tourist population. The pandemic is expected to cost a total of $448 million monthly loss in tourism revenue for the country.
The coming weeks are going to be crucial in determining whether or not the authorities will succeed in controlling the spread of the virus. The results in the capital city of Manila, housing more than 12 million people, is going to be the game-changer.
