Philippine Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III unveiled the latest pandemic figures at last night’s Talk to the Nation address, showing that the highest percentage of new Covid-19 cases now come from Region IV-A (Calabarzon), while a slight decrease in cases from the National Capital Region (NCR) puts the region second in terms of percentage.
There were 6,539 new cases as of yesterday, June 7, 2021; of these, 1,049 were from Region IV-A, while NCR recorded 809 cases. “Ito po sana ay patuloy pang bumaba at maabot po natin ‘yong presurge level ng NCR which was less than 400 cases per day,” said Duque during his presentation. (“It is hoped that these cases would continue to decrease until NCR reaches pre-surge levels, which was at less than 400 cases per day.”)
Duque said that the rising cases outside of NCR and the rest of Luzon, which used to be the center of the pandemic in the Philippines, will be monitored by the DOH. “Patuloy na nagpapakita ng pagtaas ng kaso sa Visayas and Mindanao kung saan mas mabilis ang pagtaas nitong nakaraang linggo sa Visayas habang ang Mindanao ay malapit na sa bilang ng rest of Luzon,” Duque reported during the pre-recorded televised broadcast. (“The continued increase in cases in Visayas and Mindanao is seen, with the Visayas showing a faster increase, while Mindanao is near the case count for the rest of Luzon.”)
The health secretary added that the Mindanao situation is being monitored with concern.
In the same meeting, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he had personally seen places where there was little regard for quarantine protocols. “Ako, ayaw kong mag-ano pero, well, ‘pag ayaw talaga ninyong sumunod at mahaba, kagaya ng Mindanao — Mindanao then Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, nakita ko talaga, I passed the place while going home to Mindanao, na ang mga tao balewala, parang walang nangyari, parang walang sakit, parang walang — basta pasyal nang pasyal,” Duterte said.
(“I don’t want to…well, if you really don’t want to follow and it’s long, like Mindanao — Mindanao then Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, I really saw while on my way home to Mindanao, that people didn’t mind, like there was no sickness, like there were no — they just keep going out.”)
Duterte ended by saying that government might recalibrate their response if people continue to flout quarantine protocols. “They go about their daily business, though not intentional of harming other people, but consciously having the COVID-19 in their bodies, at alam mo ‘yan at you do not honor the protocols, iyan magkakaproblema ka. We might calibrate our response to the intransigence that you will show.”
The total number of active cases is at 58,854 as of June 7, 2021, with total number of recoveries at 1,195,181. The death toll from the pandemic stands at 21,969.
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