DOH vows to revise COVID-19 strategy

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday vowed to upgrade its strategy in the fight against the new coronavirus within a week and promised to beef up the health care workforce in Metro Manila, where medical frontliners are calling for the reimposition of strict lockdowns.

[Editor’s note: After the day’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer came off the press, the Palace announced that Metro Manila and other places would again be under strict lockdown.]

In a statement dated Aug. 1 but released on Sunday, the DOH, after a meeting with the medical community, said it had committed to advocate for a “timeout” in Metro Manila before the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the temporary government body overseeing the Duterte administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The DOH, however, did not state clearly whether it was supporting the health workers’ plea to the government to place Metro Manila back on lockdown for two weeks amid a surge in coronavirus infections.

Cases top 100K

On Sunday, the number of coronavirus infections in the Philippines breached the 100,000 mark with the addition of 5,032 new cases. It was the fourth consecutive day that the country reported the largest single-day rise in infections.

The new infections brought the national tally to 103,185 cases, 35,569 of them active.

Of the additional cases, the DOH said 2,114 were fresh, or patients who tested positive for the coronavirus in the last three days, and 2,918 were late, or people who tested positive four days ago or earlier.

According to the DOH,

Metro Manila accounted for most of the new cases, with 2,737, followed by Cavite (463), Cebu (449), Laguna (326) and Rizal (201).

The DOH reported that 301 more patients had recovered, bringing the number of COVID-19 survivors to 65,557. It said 20 more patients had died, raising the death toll to 2,059.

The Philippines has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia.

In the largest call yet from health workers to contain the virus that causes COVID-19, 80 groups representing 80,000 doctors and a million nurses on Saturday said the Philippines was losing the fight against the disease and warned of a collapse of the health-care system from soaring infections without tighter controls.

The health workers urged President Duterte to place Metro Manila on lockdown for two weeks to check the surge in coronavirus infections. A two-week slowdown in new infections would give them the “timeout” they needed to recover from exhaustion, they said.

Palace talks on Monday

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday called on Duterte and Cabinet officials to heed the health workers’ plea.

She reiterated her proposal for the expansion of the coronavirus task force to include more medical experts to ensure that the health sector had a voice in the policymaking process.

Members of the Senate also urged the government on Sunday to listen to the health workers’ plea. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte would meet with key Cabinet officials on Monday to discuss the matter.

In its Sunday statement, the DOH said it had heard the health workers’ call.

“The battle is not over, and it will not be for a long time yet. But this is where, with you, we are drawing a line in the sand—and starting strongly and without hesitation that from this point on, we will marshal all our efforts to turn the tide,” it said.

The DOH said it aimed to “create a rapid response team of trained medical workers who can help prevent our health system [in Metro Manila] from being overrun.”

“We are openly asking assistance from our fellow health-care workers to help out our colleagues, brothers and sisters in Metro Manila. We are appealing to provincial health workers and medical [migrants] who are returning home,” it said.

It added that it would ask the universities and medical societies to help in the hiring of more doctors, nurses and other medical staff.

Health workers’ benefits

The DOH also gave an assurance that health workers who would answer the call would get hazard pay, accommodations, transport, personal protective equipment, as well as psychosocial, emotional and mental support.

The government is reluctant to revive strict curbs on movement in Metro Manila, saying main streets should be reopened and Filipinos kept employed to revive the economy.

But the DOH promised to revisit its COVID-19 strategy and develop an updated plan in seven days.

It said it would provide local governments with a “road map and technical assistance” to ensure effective contact tracing, and lead in the imposition of local lockdowns.

The DOH again appealed to the public to help prevent the collapse of the health-care system by observing minimum health standards.

But Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, said it was “imperative for the government to rethink its decision [to maintain] general community quarantine in Metro Manila.

“It should be considered as far as I’m concerned. Life is more important and it’s going to be difficult if we lose our doctors. The government should study this very, very carefully,” Gordon said in a radio interview.

He said he preferred local lockdowns in Metro Manila to prevent the economy’s collapse.

“The government projected that we could lose about P382 billion in two weeks. Last time, we lost P1 trillion. Can we afford that?” Gordon said.

‘Appointment with doctors’

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said it was time that Mr. Duterte “set an appointment with the doctors” and listened to them.

“The timeout they are calling for is actually a challenge for [the] government to work double-time,” Recto said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan suggested a compromise 10-day lockdown instead of two weeks.

“I think we can compromise for 10 days. Our health care system cannot collapse. We cannot be losing our doctors, nurses and medical staff. Let’s find a middle ground,” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, head of the Senate health committee, assured the health workers that their concerns were being heard by the government.

He said he was studying if financial assistance and additional benefits like life insurance could be given to the health workers in private hospitals.

Go said he would also ask Duterte, the government’s economic managers and other lawmakers if private health workers could be included as beneficiaries of state assistance under the Bayanihan 2 bill.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she had consulted medical experts and public health specialists to prepare a post-pandemic recovery plan. She said she would also present a “legislative package for economic recovery” during a privilege speech on Monday.

—With reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Jhesset O. Enano and the wires