DOF: Rainy season to make fight vs COVID-19 ‘more challenging’

The onset of the wet season coinciding with the gradual reopening of the economy from quarantine may make it more difficult to fight COVID-19, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Friday.

“As the rainy season approaches, the battle against the virus will become more challenging. The flu season will have started and flooding could occur in low-lying areas. Distancing in temporary relocation sites could be difficult to implement,” Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran, the DOF’s chief economist, said in an economic bulletin.

“The ongoing COVID-19 is, first and foremost, a health issue. The policy response for preventing its further spread (restriction of movements and physical distancing), however, inevitably made the economy a collateral damage. Such response was, nevertheless, a hedge against further complications,” Beltran said.