PH flattening the COVID-19 curve? Pangilinan grills Duque during Senate hearing

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Francis Pangilinan on Wednesday quizzed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III over his remarks that the Philippines is already flattening the COVID-19 curve and that the country is now facing the second wave of infections.

“Can you please explain to us, how can we say that we have already flattened the curve when we have not tested enough? Until we test enough, isolate enough and treat enough, this virus will continue to spread,” Pangilinan asked Duque during a Senate hearing on the status of the government’s COVID-19 response.

“So I don’t understand ano ibig sabihin na we have flattened the curve and (we are now facing) a second wave,” he added.

Earlier in the hearing, the health chief said the Philippines is now “actually” experiencing the second wave of COVID-19 infections.

Duque explained that the first wave occurred when the country reported its first three cases of the virus back in January involving Chinese nationals from Wuhan City, where the outbreak originated.

“Yun pong aking sinabi na actually nag-second wave tayo at na-flatten natin, dahil kahapon po aking naipaliwanag na na-flatten po natin ito batay po sa mga bagong kaso na naireport at dun po nag-stabalize na on the average 250 cases a day,” he told Pangilinan.

However, the senator expressed doubt about the parameters that were used to conclude the COVID-19 curve in the country has been flattened.

“So you can make that conclusion on the basis of the 0.17 or 0.2 (percent that we have tested)? At the very least isn’t that, you now, an intelligent, speculative, estimated guess? Na ‘Oo bumababa yung cases kasi nagte-test tayo ng 0.17 (percent) pero baka pag nag-test tayo ng mas marami, mas marami tayong makukuhang kaso,” he said.

But Duque said that conducting the tests is only one of the several strategies the governments its trace, test and treat mechanism.

“So hindi lang po ito patungkol sa testing, marami po tayong mga ginagawa para po mabawasan ang bilang nga mga COVID cases,” he said.

Pangilinan interjected and pressed further on how it was concluded that the country is facing its second wave of COVID-19 infections.

“I just want to understand, how can you conclude that we are now in the second wave because we have flattened the curve? or has it just plateaued?” the senator said.

“Ang alam ko hindi pa natin nafla-flatten yung curve dahil hindi kumpleto ang ating datos. Dahil kulang ang ating testing at hindi natin alam kung gano talaga kadami ang infected o may sakit,” he added.

Duque in response said that the new cases being reported have “stabilized,” adding that other metrics are being used, aside from testing, to determine whether the COVID-19 cases have flattened.

“Ang pangalawa pong metric na giamit natin is that mortality doubling time pati po sa ating mag bilang ng mga mortalities ito po ay bumaba na rin, so kasama po ito sa mga datos na ginamit natin para masabi po natin na nag-stabalize o nag-flatten ang curve,” Duque said.

“Tama po kayo nung sinabi niyong nag-plateau. It’s one way of saying na nag-flatten na yung curve. At ito po naman ay batay sa mga data analytics na ginawa po ng ating mga experts,” he said.

But Pangilinan was still not convinced and cited figures which showed the Philippines has one of the highest mortality rates in Asia, which is 80 times higher than Singapore and three to four times higher that compared to Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.

He also noted that the Philippines has one of the lowest recovery rates in Asia.

“Ang punto po ninyo na even if we have the highest mortality rate in the region or the second highest and even if we have the lowest recovery rate in the region we can still claim that we have flattened the curve?” Pangilinan asked Duque.

To which the health secretary answered: “Yes. Meron po tayong parameters to say that.”

But according to Pangilinan, the implementation of the government’s strategy on tracking the cases and treating patients should keep up with that of other countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“Sko po simple lang po, kung tama po yung stratehiya natin, bakit magiisang libo na ang namamatay satin habang ang iba 200, 100 or wala na hong kaso sa iba?…’Yung implementasyon po ng ating stratehiya ay kinakailangang maghabol…Kulang ang testing, kailangan magtesting,” he added.