COVID-19 test_positive. STOCK PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines still can handle new COVID-19 cases, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Tuesday amid the recent rise in infections.
In his first public briefing since assuming his new post, MarcosJr. said the country is getting to a point “where we are learning to live with the coronavirus.”
“If we look at where we started, we still have the capability to handle the new COVID cases. Luckily, we should not look at the number of COVID cases in the same way as we looked at them in 2020 and 2021 because this is Omicron,” he said.
“Omicron is a little contagious but it does not hit us hard. In fact, the general experience has been that people are down for maybe two or three days and that’s like flu,” he added.
Further, he said: “We’re getting to that point where we are learning to live with the coronavirus, specifically with the Omicron variant and the other variants that are coming.”
Nonetheless, he noted changes in the efficiency of vaccines as more COVID-19 variants surface.
“That’s the general policy. We will reinstitute again the vaccination drive so that we can at least feel safer when the children go back to school,” Marcos Jr. said.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest challenges that Marcos Jr.’s administration would be facing.
On his sixth day as the country’s president, Marcos Jr. has yet to appoint a health secretary.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the President is still in the “final evaluation stage” in completing his Cabinet.
Aside from the Department of Health, other vacant Cabinet posts include the Departments of Energy, Science and Technology, Environment and Natural Resources, and Human Settlements and Urban Development.