DOH explains Galvez’s ‘taken out of context’ remark on COVID-19 surge

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) explained Wednesday what it says is a “taken out of context” statement of National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. regarding the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country.

In an online press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that what the COVID-19 task force chief meant was that the public must be prepared for any likely chance that coronavirus cases in the country may increase anew in the coming months.

“I think si Secretary Galvez was taken out of context. Ang sinasabi niya kasi, we must always be ready for any possible circumstance na tataas na naman ang mga kaso natin in the coming months, kaya dapat lagi tayong handa,” she said.

(I think Secretary Galvez was taken out of context. What he was saying is we must always be ready for any possible circumstance that the COVID-19 cases would increase in the coming months, that’s why we should always be ready.)

Galvez in an interview on Tuesday said: “We have to expect na this coming June and July, baka magkaroon na naman tayo ng (we may have another) peaking or surge.”

“Ang nakita po natin, hindi pa po tapos ang COVID. Nakita po natin, the wrong notion na COVID is already finished in some other countries. It can reappear anytime. We have to expect for the worse when we are planning something. We are now preparing for it, just in case,” he continued.

(What we see is that COVID-19 is not yet done. We see that there is a wrong notion that COVID is already finished in some of the other countries. It can reappear anytime. We have to expect for the worse when we are planning something. We are now preparing for it, just in case.)

According to Vergeire, the government continues to improve the country’s healthcare capacity in anticipation of any further increase in coronavirus cases.

“Kaya nga po ang gobyerno ay patuloy na iniimprove kung ano man ang meron tayong kakayahan when it comes to our health system capacity…para kung saka-sakaling dumating ulit tayo sa punto na tumaas na naman ang mga kaso, tayo ay handa na. I think that is what Secretary Galvez meant with his statement,” she added.

(This is why the government is continuously improving whatever capacity we have when it comes to our healthcare system capacity… so that if ever there will be another point when cases go high, we are already prepared. I think that is what Secretary Galvez meant with his statement.)

As of April 13, DOH reported 8,571 new infections which pushed the nationwide case count to 884,783. This sum includes 165,534 active cases as well as 703,963 recovered patients and 15,286 fatalities.

KGA