MANILA, Philippines — Some senators on Wednesday chided Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for saying that the Philippines has already flattened its COVID-19 curve since April.
“OMG! Dear Secretary Duque, with all due respect, [please] tell us what curve is flattening?” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said in a message to reporters.
“Is it the fact that the cases in April were at an average of two hundred a day as compared to the daily average of over a thousand cases today? Or is it the fact that we will soon be number one in South East Asia in terms [COVID-19] cases?” he added.
In a pre-State of the Nation Address forum, the health secretary cited the slowdown of COVID-19 infections doubling time and the decreasing mortality rate caused by the virus.
But Zubiri was not convinced and reminded Duque that the “only thing that is flat are the backs of all the poor patients in fully occupied [COVID-19] wards all around Metro Manila fighting for their lives!.”
“Wag mag bulag-bulagan and act to stop the surge instead of imagining it,” the senator added.
(Let’s not turn a blind eye and act to stop the surge instead of imagining it).
Senator Francis Pangilinan also questioned Duque’s claims.
“Flattened the curve, daw?? Heto pa ang isang mukhang galing ata sa ibang planeta,” he wrote on Twitter.
(Flattened the curve?? This one seems to be from another planet).
Senator Sonny Angara, likewise, said that the Philippines has “hardly” flattened the curve of COVID-19 infections.
“If he said that 3 weeks ago I might have believed him but the hospital [COVID-19] wards are filling up again. There seem to be less people dying but cases seem to be on the up,” Angara said in a separate message to reporters.
“The WHO [World Health Organization] said a few months ago that there can be no real solution if we are not candid enough to admit the true state of affairs.
In May, Duque also drew flak for announcing that the Philippines was already experiencing its second wave of COVID-19 infections, a remark that Malacañang and even the Department of Health (DOH) have contradicted.
To date, the Philippines has recorded 57,545 COVID-19 cases nationwide, including 1,603 fatalities and 20,459 recoveries.