THERE IS a growing improvement in the coronavirus pandemic situation in the country after three months of implementation of community quarantine, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Action Plan (NAP) on Covid-19, said Monday.
Galvez, also the presidential peace adviser, said the country has already learned its lesson on how to react to the health crisis.
"Medyo natuto na po tayo after that three-month experience (so) yun po yung nakiita namin, napakaganda po ng mga indicators (We somehow learned after that three-month experience, we believe there were good indicators)," Galvez said in a virtual interview, noting that the death rate almost reduced into a single digit.
"I believe ang ating recoveries is more or less 40 to 50 percent hindi lang natin na-declare because of...ang dini-declare lang natin sa recovery ay yun lang pong na-admit (I believe we have more or less 40 to 50-percent recovery cases which are not declared because of -- we are just declaring only those who have been admitted in hospitals)," he added.
Galvez, however, noted that there are also underreported cases of Covid-19 recoveries, which indicates a higher chance of improvement on the health crisis response.
The country, he added, is also increasing its testing capacity.
Earlier, Galvez said the government sought a second phase of operation concepts and plans to boost its battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Mas prepared po tayo kasi meron tayong national action plan, sa ngayon, nire-review po natin yan kasi nag-change na po ang ating situation (We are prepared because we have the national action plan, so far, we are reviewing this since our Covid-19 situation has changed)," he said.
There is also an ongoing "balancing act" between the national and the local governments when it comes to the Covid-19 response, he added.
Covid-19 spike in Cebu
Meanwhile, Galvez said there is a continuous spike on the severe and critical cases in Cebu City.
"In fact, even the rate of deaths is also spiking, but we expect that this surge of picking up new cases (is) two to three weeks," he added, citing the NCR's experience on March 10 and April 13, wherein surge of Covid-19 confirmed cases occurred.
He said early detection and testing is essential to halt the spike of the Covid-19 cases.
Galvez said the government sees the need to conduct stringent restrictions in Cebu City.
"We don't want to preempt the pronouncement of the President, but we see there is still a need for stringent restrictions since we found out that the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) was not properly implemented, that's why Gen. (Eduardo) Ano was prompted to deploy more SAF personnel there in Cebu City," Galvez said. "So far, more than 19 barangays are being monitored under strict lockdowns."
He added that only those with essential travels and those who are authorized are allowed to go outside of their homes. (By Lade Jean Kabagani)
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