Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo in Cebu City on Monday, December 13, 2021. (Photo by Jay Ganzon / OVP)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo has assured the public that her office’s telemedicine channels called the Bayanihan e-Konsulta remain open as their mobile testing initiative dubbed Swab Cab will resume operations within the week.
Robredo’s pledge comes as the country faces an uptick in new coronavirus infections following relaxed COVID-19 curbs through the holidays.
“Sa mga nangangailangan mag konsulta sa duktor, tuloy-tuloy pa po ang ating Bayanihan e-Konsulta. Ibabalik na din po natin ngayong Linggo ‘yung ating mga Swab Cabs,” she said in a tweet.
(For those who may need to consult with doctors, our Bayanihan E-Konsulta operations are continuous. We will also be resuming the Swab Cabs within this week.)
Sa mga nangangailangan mag konsulta sa duktor, tuloy tuloy pa po ang ating Bayanihan e-Konsulta. Ibabalik na din po natin ngayong Linggo yung ating mga Swab Cabs. pic.twitter.com/h6KQaKb1xN
— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) January 3, 2022
A graphic attached to Robredo’s social media post contained reminders about what people who think they were infected with COVID-19 can do online and how they can avail of free consultations by clicking the “Send Message” button on the Bayanihan e-Konsulta Facebook page.
As of January 3, the country’s active COVID-19 infections continued to increase, reaching 24,992 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 4,084 new cases. This was a few days after the country posted a relatively low number of daily new infections — ranging from 300 to 500 with the active case count down to below 10,000 — before the holidays.
READ: PH logs 4,084 new COVID-19 cases; positivity rate hits 20%
On January 1, the DOH said there is a high possibility of local transmission of the Omicron variant although it maintained that the country is now more ready to face the Omicron variant after gaining experience from the previous case surges brought about by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which causes severe respiratory illness COVID-19.
READ: DOH cites ‘high possibility’ of Omicron variant’s local transmission
READ: Philippines ‘more ready’ to face Omicron variant, says DOH
The OVP launched both the Bayanihan e-Konsulta and the Swab Cab projects in 2021 after Robredo and her teams saw the need for a recalibration of their COVID-19 response efforts. Prior to the two programs, OVP focused on providing personal protective equipment (PPE) sets to health care workers, giving free shuttle rides and dormitory access to medical frontliners.
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