Gathering violations up by 5,000%; Año eyes stricter enforcement of COVID protocols

Artwork by Ed Lustan / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has called for the stricter implementation of COVID-19 protocols with the sharp rise of violations across the country, including mass gathering offenses that went up by 5,469 percent.

Año made the directive to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local government units (LGUs) during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Wednesday morning Talk to the People, adding that he prefers to avoid a COVID-19 surge even if health authorities expect one to happen.

“So muli po tayong mag-iistrikto, ang ating kapulisan sa pagpapatupad ng minimum public health standards.  At tinatawagan din natin ang mga LGUs lalo na ang mga barangay officials at barangay tanod, ang mga management ng commercial establishments, ang mga community leaders, ang mga campaign organizers na tumulong mapatupad ang mga minimum public health standards,” he said.

“Hindi natin papayagan na magkakaroon muli ng COVID surges or spikes dito sa ating bansa kahit na meron pong projection or prediction na maaari pong sumipa ang COVID sa susunod na mga buwan or linggo,” he added

Año shared the following statistics about protocol violations from April 15 to 24:

• mass gathering violations at 724, or a 5,469 percent increase from the previous week’s 13 incidents;
• no physical distancing violations at 9,057 or a 201 percent increase from the previous week’s 3,002;
• non-wearing of face masks at 84,969, or a 196 percent increase from the previous week’s 28,622

According to Año, no area in the country is under granular lockdown but he is wary about possible increase in cases given the high number of violations recorded.

“Ngayon po, Mr. President, sa buong Pilipinas ay zero pa rin ang mga areas under granular lockdown, so ibig sabihin po maganda ang numero natin at mababa ang COVID-19 cases natin.  At dalawa po ang ating pinaka-importanteng depensa o sandata natin dito — ang ating mataas na vaccination rates at pagsunod sa ating minimum public health standards protocols,” Año said.

“Kaya lang po itong nakaraang panahon mula April 15 to 24, nakakabahala ang ating naitalang community health protocol violations dahil malaki ang tinaas ng nai-report na violations sa maikling panahong ito,” he added.

Earlier, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez told President Duterte that they are expecting a surge in infections within two weeks to a month as South Africa’s COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant have been seeing a spike recently.

He then compared the previous surge in the Philippines, which happened weeks after Omicron cases started to pile up in South Africa, saying that such trends may happen again.

As of Monday, DOH said that the Philippines only registered 1,465 total COVID-19 cases from April 18 to 24 — very low numbers compared to the surge last January where daily new infections went over 30,000.

However, experts are still wary that a surge may be underway, especially as some areas under Alert Level 1 had seen an increase in COVID-19 infections.

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EDV