Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana claimed today that the number of COVID-19 cases is plateauing, making it possible for the Philippines to reopen its economy.
A member of the government’s anti-coronavirus task force, Lorenzana told news program Unang Hirit that about 80% of the country is expected to be placed under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the loosest form of lockdown, on July 16.
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“We want to reopen the economy. There will be a lot of changes, more people would be able to go out, even churches will reopen, there will be more transportation options…so there will be a lot of changes. And people should accept the burden that they need to protect themselves [from the virus],” he said in English and Filipino.
Despite hundreds of new cases daily, he said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s government supposedly stopped the spread of COVID-19. Lorenzana claimed that the World Health Organization predicted that the coronavirus would have killed almost 7,000 Filipinos in the first three months of the lockdown, with cases reaching as high as 75,000. As of yesterday, the country has 38,085 reported COVID-19 cases, with 1,274 deaths and 10,673 recoveries.
However, critics have said that the government’s data is not real-time and granular, making the information unreliable.
“We have strengthened the capability of our health services, our hospitals, quarantine facilities. That was our first objective [with the lockdowns]…We have met our objectives while preventing the increase of infection,” he said.
He added that the country has purchased more lab equipment, exported protective gear for medical workers, and built quarantine facilities during the past few months.
“We successfully did those. Now it has somewhat plateaued, except for Cebu where the cases are still increasing,” the secretary said.
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The United Nations has called out the Duterte administration for its highly militarized response to the health crisis after policemen and soldiers imposed heavy-handed quarantines in different parts of the country, which has resulted in at least one tragic death. Critics have said that the government’s failure to stop the spread of the virus could be attributed to the fact that most members of Duterte’s anti-COVID-19 task force are former military generals, like Lorenzana.
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