Trade secretary blames ‘secret parties’ for surge in COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — For Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, “secret parties,” and not the reopening of the economy, are to blame for the surge in new COVID-19 cases.

Lopez noted that many people who meet their friends due to “lockdown fatigue” normally lower down their guards against COVID-19 during their private engagements.

“Maraming nag-reunion, whether sa former classmates mo or kamag-anak mo na hindi kayo nagkikita, maraming secret parties. Marami nang nangyari. So dito ‘yung medyo, of course, bumaba ang compliance rate dahil nagkita-kita, privately,” he said over DZRH on Monday.

(Many people attended reunions, whether with former classmates or relatives. There were a lot of secret parties. So this is where the compliance rate became low because they were meeting in private.)

Lopez also said that the reopening of the economy in the latter part of 2020 did not lead to a significant increase in COVID-19 cases as compared to the surge now being reported by the Department of Health (DOH).

“Kaya mainam pa ‘yung nasa ganyang restaurant, actually. Sa public kasi namomonitor mo. Pero sa private, puwedeng wala na silang mask all throughout. Nagkainan, nag-inuman na. Maraming ‘yang ganyang activities talaga, dumami ‘yan, kaya talagang dumami yung cases ngayon,” he added.

(It is better in restaurants, actually. In public places, you can monitor the compliance. But in private, they may not wear masks all throughout. They will just eat and drink. There were a lot of activities like that, so there is an increase in cases now.)

The country has been seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases, with 7,999 cases on Saturday recorded as the highest single day case count since the pandemic began.

A total of 663,794 COVID-19 cases have been recorded so far in the country as of Sunday, according to DOH. Of this number, 73,072 are active cases, 577,754 are recoveries, and 12,968 have led to deaths.

Because of the increase in cases, the government has placed Metro Manila and the adjacent provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal under a general community quarantine bubble from March 22 until April 4.

EDV