Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles during the Laging Handa press briefing on the update of COVID 19. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Amid the latest COVID-19 surge, the government is now putting more focus on telemedicine and telehealth services as most of the active cases only have mild symptoms and are isolating at home, Malacañang said Monday.
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said more people, especially those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are isolating at home since they only have mild symptoms.
“Since marami nang vaccinated, we’re seeing more of those who catch COVID-19 to be mild so we’re now focusing more on home isolation, telemedicine, telehealth care and reserving the beds for those severe critical and the vulnerable,” he said in an interview on ABS CBN News Channel.
When asked why the government has not yet been giving out home care kits complete with medicines and vitamins for COVID-positive individuals two years into the pandemic, Nograles reasoned that the previous rule was to bring infected people to hospitals and isolation facilities instead of isolating them at home.
But now with more and more infected persons isolating at home, for now the government is focusing more on telemedicine and telehealth services.
He also said that some local government units are already providing medicines for their constituents based on their capacity.
“Let’s focus first on telemedicine, telehealth care and depende sa budget. The LGUs, can on their own, especially na mas malaki na ‘yung budget na makukuha ng LGUs this year, then all the more reason for them to also integrate that [home care kits] into the telehealth care that they’re giving their constituents,” Nograles said.
As of Jan. 9, there are 128,114 active COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, where daily recorded cases of the disease have been dramatically increasing.
On Jan. 9 alone, the Philippines recorded 28,707 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number of single-day cases recorded since the pandemic started in 2020.